Gate's Lawyers
by PeterHalsey
Summary: This story starts during 'Solitudes' when Harm and Mac had to help to make cover story for SGC and go on as the SG-1 and JAG works together through the years to save the Earth.
1. Chapter 1: Antarctic Gate

**Gate's Lawyers**

**Summary: **This story starts during 'Solitudes' when Harm and Mac had to help to make cover story for SGC and go on as the SG-1 and JAG works together through the years to save the Earth.

**Rating: **T – for now just to be safe (probably will change to M for later chapters)

**Spoilers: **Solitudes, The Serpent's Lair on the Stargate side, Impact on JAG side and later episodes in later chapters, could develop into super-crossover with X-Files, Army Wives and Good Witch

**Disclaimer:** JAG belongs to Donald Bellisario, Bellisarius, Productions, Paramount, and CBS. Stargate SG-1 belongs to MGM, Double Secret and Gekko. I own nothing but the plot twists and any OC that I will introduce.

**Note: **This is continuation of the story JAG – Meeting before Rose Garden. For more back-story check that story in JAG section.

* * *

**.**

**Chapter 1 – Antarctic Gate**

**.**

**0845 Zulu, Thursday 12th February 1998, Low Earth Orbit**

It was called Oko, Russian for eye. It was product of underfunded Russian space program. Military needed spy satellite a and Science Academy needed photo satellite to support their Antarctic program so they combined resources and created two of these satellites. This was the second one and it neared the end of its planned life. After it photographed Australian military bases it flew over the area between McMurdo and Vostok stations and took pictures of white ice sheet. They were sent to control center near Moscow and scanned for new features like meteorites or some illegal research for big oil and ore prospecting companies.

The first 31 photos did not had anything unusual. When the comparing software processed the thirty second one it popped up warning on the operator's monitor. The man that was responsible for the process was veteran of the Russian Air Force and when he looked at the image he recognized the big transport plane as C-5 Galaxy. He knew that Americans used that planes in Antarctica or supply flights to Amundsen-Scott base or any other outposts around the continent. However this one lacked the orange markings that US Navy put on all their planes used on that continent.

**.**

**1800 Zulu, Thursday 12th February 1998, JAG HQ**

Admiral Chegwidden got the call directly from the Secretary of Defense. It was urgent and the government wanted his best lawyers. International incident was something he never liked but this one was big and the fact that so far only Russians knew about it was blessing.

After he put down receiver of the phone Admiral pressed button on his intercom. "Tiner, get MacKenzie and Rabb here! ASAP!" He did not even waited for answer and went straight to bookshelf to find this year edition of the International treaties law book.

When Harm and Mac came to the office they found Admiral still standing at the bookshelf. He read one of the books.

"Sit down, both of you!" said Chegwidden and did not bothered to look up. He waited until they sat down and then put the book back to its place.

"Commander, Major. How good is your knowledge on International law? Antarctic Treaty in particular and the use of military equipment?"

Mac was better at this so Harm let her speak. "Basically all nations that signed it declared the whole continent one big reservation and banned placement of weapons and use of any military equipment other than the one all of its members agreed to. In our case it means Navy supply ships and specifically marked Navy cargo planes."

"You are correct, major. The problem is that Air Force started what they call rescue and recovery operation hundred miles from McMurdo base and Russian spy satellite caught the plane they used for it."

Harm leaned forward in his chair. "So where is problem, we tell them what's going on and they will be happy."

Admiral looked at Harm and pinched the bridge of his nose. "There is no official operation underway so we have nothing to tell. The unit that did it is so secret that only a few people outside of it know that they exist at all. They said that two of their officers were stuck in some ice cave for days and they had to get to them quickly."

Harm and Mac looked at each other as they did not understand what was the problem. "Sir?"

"That unit should not have any of its members outside of their base of operation. They do," now he had to look at his notes for help. "Deep Space Radar Telemetry. That unit answers only to top level of chain of command and from what Defense Secretary told me one of the two officers was the unit's second in command."

Harm still didn't got it but was eager to help with this investigation. "Sir, what shall we do?"

"Both of you need to sign the top secret level clearances first so your first stop will be at Pentagon to do the paperwork."

They nodded at that. They already had partial top secret clearances from the Bradenhurst Corporation trial so this had to be really high on the top secret level.

"Major, you are better at international law and are fluent at Russian. You are going to meet major Paul Davis. He is the liaison for this program. He will brief you and I hope you will be able convince international representatives that we did not broke the Antarctic Treaty."

"Yes, sir." answered Mac and nodded.

"Commander, you are my best investigator so you need to go to McMurdo. Air Force use it as forward base and from what I was able to find out they still have their two officers in the base hospital. Your plane leaves Andrews at 1930 Zulu."

**.**

**1915 Zulu, Thursday 12th February, Pentagon**

After she and Harm read and signed what looked like infinite stream of pages of non-disclosure forms and the top secret eyes-only level forms Mac got temporally Air Force pass to the Pentagon. She then went with Technical Sergeant to office in the research and development projects on the second floor. The only designation on the door was name: "Maj. Paul Davis."

Mac was surprised that the inside of the office did not looked like she imagined. It was normal office like a lot of others in Pentagon. Like others used for top secret projects it did not had windows but there was one difference. Unlike most of military and government offices this one had modern computer. Or more precisely there were two computers. One was similar to the one she had in her own office but the other one was probably custom build model just for SGC. Mac soon found out why. Stargate Command stored all their files and reports on computers. It was deemed to be more secure and more effective than using paper files. The encryption system was created just for this one program and was done by Captain Carter. She was one of the two officers that were the the reason for this crisis.

After Mac read the general information sheets about the Stargate, SGC and the chain of command she was astonished at what the Air Force were able to do without any leak of information. Even the cover story looked like a real program. The 'Deep Space Radar Telemetry' was so vague that she thought it could be used as good cover story for this. She was asked to prepare some explanation that government could use to convince Russians that nothing bad happened and they would believe it.

Mac asked Major Davis to bring her printed version of the Antarctic Treaty and then she opened the report of the last mission of SG-1 written by General Hammond and started to write down notes for her report.

**.**

**2200 Zulu, Thursday 12th February, over Gulf of Mexico**

When Harm got to Andrews he found out that he would be sharing passenger area of Galaxy with specialists on hypothermia treatment from Bethesda. They were called to help with the two officers that were still at base hospital. The plane also carried some special equipment that the medical team needed and other supplies that National Science Foundation wanted to get to the base.

Harm knew it would be long flight but he got a lot of materials about the true nature of the Stargate program and Master Sergeant that was responsible for the laptop and any document on its hard drive. Only the Sergeant know the passwords as they did not trust Harm with that. He asked why he had to use laptop and the answer he got made sense. After then Lieutenant Carter came to the program in 1992 she found that a lot of files from previous research were missing and decided to create her own file encryption and sorting program so she could had everything she needed in her computer. Since then she spread the program to all aspects of the Stargate program.

He was to investigate the program from the 'for the public' side. That meant the 'Deep Space Radar Telemetry' cover story. The true was wilder than he ever thought. They used ancient alien technology to travel instantaneously from one planet to another on the other side of the Galaxy. Not only that but they also fought what was described as parasitic aliens posing as Egypt and Greek gods. That was something that sounded like it came from science fiction novel but they did it for real.

He was stunned by the fact that government was able to keep something like that secret. Another unbelievable fact was that the commander of the base, only two star general just before retirement, had live nuclear weapons to his disposal. They already used one without overseeing authorities noticing that one stockpiled 150 kiloton warhead was missing. The deeper he got to the reality of what the program really did and how much people worked on their base the more he understood that when he and Mac signed the non-disclosure forms their lives change. Since Air Force already used Marines as combat support teams he was sure that one or both of them could end up transferred to Colorado Springs in the end so they would be available if the SGC needed lawyers again.

**.**

**2300 Zulu, Thursday 12th February 1998, Pentagon**

Mac did not realized that it was already so late. She got so absorbed first in the reports and for what she now thought must had been more than a hour the Antarctic Treaty itself. She was expert at maritime law so she had to read the treaty only two times before she was able to come with some ideas about what would be best approach to the whole mess. She read the mission report and the treaty then wrote few notes and re-read the treaty and the SGC operation manuals and instructions and then she wrote down more notes. She now had almost three pages of text. It needed to be sorted and written in international law language but she at lest had something to start with.

Now her stomach told her that it was time to stop and eat something to recharge her energy. Major Davis came just as she went through her notes again. He saw that she had the treaty all around his office and the wrote her notes on one computer while she had the eyes-only files opened on the other. "Looks like you did a lot while I was at the meetings. Do you need something."

Mac smiled at his comment. Of course she wanted something. "In fact I do. I'm hungry so where is the closest place to get some food?"

Major Davis looked at his watches and realized that it was already six pm. "I will take you to our night cafeteria."

Mac didn't knew how good or bad the food they served was but if she got something with a lot of meat and spicy enough she would be glad and ate it.

Major leaded them out of his office and down the stairs. "I think that you would like to catch some sleep tonight. General Hammond is on his way her so he could sort things our with Chiefs of Staffs and with the president. He would like to meet you at eight in the morning when he is done with others. But before you go I want you to read the first version of the cover story we got together for this."

Mac nodded and followed Major where he lead her as her only task now was to get some food.

**.**

**1210 Zulu, ****Friday ****13****th**** February, ****Pegasus Field**/**McMurdo Station, Antarctica**

Harm was glad that they had arrived to Antarctica because the nearly 17 hour long flight gave him only 5 hours of sleep. Before they started their descend loadmaster came to all of the passengers and gave them polar gear together with basic instructions about how they should behave after they land and then during their stay in polar region. February in Antarctica meant that it was middle of summer season but the temperatures still did not get much above 40 Fahrenheit.

Despite it was past midnight as the base used New Zealand time there was still enough light for the plane to land safely. The airplane rolled to designated location and ground personnel moved fast to unload it as fast as possible. Harm and rest of the passengers hurried to the bus that would get them to the McMurdo. It was not that cold but the strong wind made the 26 degrees feel like barely zero or even colder.

**.**

**1250 Zulu, Friday 13th February, Pentagon**

Mac had to use subway to get to the Pentagon in the morning. Her car was still parked at JAG Headquarters. She made note to ask someone to move it back to Washington so she could use it again. With her pass she had no problem to get in and she went straight to the office and back to her work. Major Davis was already here but she suspected that he slept here or came for the meetings with General Hammond really early. Mac had the previous night to think about her approach and she thought that she found better one. After just forty minutes she wrote four pages of explanation based on international law of the sea and Antarctic Treaty. She nearly finished the part of explanation about the fact that US Air Force was not forbidden to use their aircrafts above Antarctica and if necessary use them in SAR role when the phone on the major's desk ringed and he answered it.

"Yes, sir. … Major is nearly done, sir. ...We will be there in five minutes."

Mac looked up from the computer screen. She already wrote the reasons in international law language and she knew that she had to write something specific to this incident.

"General wants to see us now, major."

Mac saved the file and closed it before she followed Davis to the secured conference room.

The conference room was small one and by the maps of the Middle East, former Yugoslavia and central Africa that hung on the walls it was most likely used for special operations staff meetings. There were few senior Air Force officers and two generals. She immediately recognized the Chief of Staff so the other had to be Major General George Hammond. He looked tired like he did not slept for some time.

The two generals finished their conversation and "Major MacKenzie, I'm General Hammond. I know that we did not help you by pulling you from your work to this mess but we needed someone who know international law. President use naval officers so we decided to ask for you."

"General, I must tell you that this is unusual work but both Commander Rabb and I worked on secret operations before."

"From what Major Davis told me you will have your report soon."

"I will not finish it before I can talk with Commander Rabb and compare ours views on the legality of your rescue operation and I need more info about the story you prepared about the reason why you started your SAR action."

"So what's do you think that we can defend ourselves against other treaty members?"

"I think so. Based on my knowledge of international law you were allowed to flew there but you still need to have your cover story to be consistent with it. The first version I saw yesterday was weak one but it was a start."

General Hammond nodded. He got the same draft of the cover story too and with help of four other officers that worked on top secret cover stories before they came with better one. President gave them green light and they made it more believable and able to withstand deeper digging from the Russian military intelligence. "We have a better one." He gave her folder with the final version. "It says that we tested hypersonic high altitude airplane During one of the radar tests we lost control and the aircraft crash-landed in Antarctica."

Mac listened to him and read the text he gave her at the same time. It was consistent with the text she had so far. "I think I can work with that. I hope to talk with Commander Rabb later today and then I will be able to finish my report."

George Hammond smiled. If his calculations were correct Rabb's plane already landed and with enough luck State Department would have final version before the end of work day in Moscow.

**.**

**1400 Zulu, Friday 13th February, McMurdo Station, Antarctica**

"Captain Koonan?" asked Harm when he saw familiar face.

"It's Major now. I was recalled to active duty." Like others he was in the polar gear that personnel of the McMurdo used when they worked inside. Stargate personnel did not wanted to draw attention to themselves so that suited them.

"You were?" Asked Harm. He was surprised that someone wanted John Wayne type of Marine like Koonan to be part of Stargate program.

"Yes, they needed someone to train men to be prepared for anything."

"And you accepted." Based on what Harm read about SGC they already had their share of tough situations. "Will you take me to the hospital so I can see Colonel O'Neill and Captain Carter."

"I can take you there but you will have to ask doctor Fraiser first."

They went outside and then to the hospital building that had all the latest equipment that were certified and tested in the harsh condition of polar nights. There were five people inside. The two patients that Harm assumed were O'Neill and Carter and three medical personnel. One of them had to be doctor Fraiser.

Janet Fraiser knew that the specialists that flew from Bethesda were one of the best in the world but the approach that they suggested was something she would not consider at all. The truth was that she was always good with injuries and infections but she did not invest much time to study how to treat people that suffered from the cold or hot environment. She noticed that Major Koonan came with someone so after the McMurdo doctor and one of the specialists left she went to them.

"Commander, this is doctor Janet Fraiser." Said Major Koonan.

"Doctor, I'm Lieutenant Commander Rabb from Navy JAG. Can I see your patients?"

"No, we put them to sleep so their bodies can heal faster. We almost didn't get there in time. And the flight here nearly killed the Colonel." Janet was worried about the fact that Navy sent one of their JAG officers here. SGC was part of Air Force after all.

"OK. Can we talk somewhere in private so you can tell me what happened?"

Janet thought about it. McMurdo did not had much places for talk about secrets of SGC but there was at least the psychiatrist's office. "Come with me, commander."

Harm followed the petite doctor and formed his opinion oh her. She had commanding authority and with her low rank that meant something.

"So what do want to know, Commander?" asked Janet when they closed the door of the office.

Harm considered what he should tell her. She was CMO of the SGC so she probably had higher clearance than he got for this investigation. "I was sent here to investigate why you flew here with Air Force plane. Russian spy satellite took picture of the C-5 you used and they want some explanation."

"General Hammond ordered the flight immediately after Daniel Jackson found where Colonel and Captain were. They spent nearly five days in that cave and Colonel lost a lot of blood. Had it not been for the cold he would be dead. We had to do emergency surgery when we got him here. I would trust doctors here with Sam. I mean Captain Carter. Colonel O'Neill is different story. During his test pilot and black ops career he sustained a lot of injuries and had to eject from plane two times. I know his condition better than any other doctor so I had to go here."

Harm now understood why they flew to Antarctica and did it without any word to the Navy or other agencies. "You know I was sent here to cover your action and now I see why you did it the way do did. I will have to speak with other people here and write something up."

Janet nodded at that. She was glad that he was not here to prosecute them but she was bothered by his presence anyway. "It will take few days before we will be ready to move them back to Colorado Springs."

**.**

**2100 Zulu, Friday 13th February, Pentagon**

Mac already finished her first draft on the report and was glad that Harm finally called. After she incorporated the cover story she got from General Hammond she was able to write six more pages of reasoning.

"Hi, Harm. What did you found out?"

"I talked with doctor Fraiser and few others. I assume you had similar conversation with some of the SGC personnel too."

"I did," said Mac.

"Based on the time that it took to locate the site, the flight time and the necessary security I think it there was no other possibility than do the rescue with Air Force plane and their own people."

"I concur. All the reports that I read told me that. I would like to read your report or at least notes before I submit my report to the State Department."

"Major Koonan told me that they set up secured link to sent data. I will send it to Major Davis when I rewrite them to the computer."

Mac was surprised to hear that name. They were after all responsible for end of his career in Marine Corps. "What is he doing there?"

"He train the security personnel including few Marines. You should have my report in a few hours. I still need clear some things with doctor Fraiser."

"I'm counting on you. State Department wants my opinion on paper today. Bye, Harm."

"I will get it to you as soon as I finish it. Bye."

**.**

**2300 Zulu, Monday 16th February, Pentagon**

The flight back from McMurdo was longer than Harm anticipated. First they flew to New Zealand onboard the Navy Hercules. Then they used one of the Air Force's C-141 that got them to Colorado Springs Harm landed on Reagan Airport just thirty minutes ago. Thanks to his uniform and only one bag he had with him he got out of the airport and to Pentagon really fast.

"On behalf of the Stargate program I thank you," said Air Force Chief of Staff. Both Harm and Mac were now considered to be part of the Stargate program. That put them in good/bad position. The good side was that thanks to that they were both on the fast track for promotion now. The bad was that their knowledge of the program meant they had to make sure they would not compromise the secret. Especially to Bud. He would jump thru the roof if they would tell him the truth but at the same time he would probably leak it to others.

"Thank you, sir." Harm and Mac said it at the same time.

"Without your work we would have to reveal some of our secrets. We consider Russians to be our allies now but this is something we would like to keep secret as long as possible. The president wanted to thank you himself but other matters prevented it. As I recall you already met him, Commander."

"Yes, sir." Harm met the current president when he received his DFC more than year ago.

"If we need lawyers again you can expect to be called here or to SGC. I will send memo of your good work to Admiral Chegwidden."

**.**

**0130 Zulu, Tuesday 17th February, Mac's apartment**

They decided that since Harm had nothing fresh in his fridge they would spent this night at Mac's. The other thing was that Mac had her car in Washington while Harm's was still in Falls Church.

Mac went to her bedroom and changed from uniform to her Marine sweatshirt and jeans. She was sick of uniform. As she had been in Pentagon for more than twelve hours each day for the past five days so she thought she should get comfy for the evening.

Harm waited until Mac was out of sight and then he opened his travel bag. He knew that this gift was late but since he was away it would have to work. He put his hand with the gift behind his back and stood in the living room until Mac returned. "Happy belated Valentine's day, Mac." They kissed lightly and then Harm showed her the gift.

Mac smiled widely. She did not knew how or where he bought it but she got heart shaped box full of small chocolates. "Thanks, Flyboy. You are so sweet." They kissed again this time it was proper kiss full of love.

After they kissed for what seemed to them like hours Mac returned her thoughts to more practical things. "We order or are you up to cooking us dinner?"

"Depends on what you want?" asked Harm and went to Mac's fridge.

"Like you had to ask. I'm dying for your pasta salad."

Harm found all ingredients he needed and started to cut the vegetables as he waited for water to boil. "Why don't you prepare tub. The pasta needs to cool before we can eat it."

"Sure, will you join me?" asked Mac over the shoulder as she was already on her way to her bathroom.

"Count on it."

When the pasta was done Harm put it to bowl and poured some oil on it. He knew that it would take nearly half an hour so he went to the bathroom.

Mac was in the tub and she covered herself in bubbles. When Harm came in she was playing with them. "What are you waiting for, sailor. You afraid of little water?"

Harm smiled widely. "Just admiring the view."

**.**

Next chapter – Strange Court Martial (in x-over section)


	2. Capter 2: Strange Court Martial

**Note:** just after the end of the first episode of season 2 Stargate SG-1.

**To Saissa:** I know that USAF have JAG (and Army too) but in this universe NAVY have sole responsibility to all operations (supply/passenger air and ship transports) over Antarctica so this is why Harm and Mac were the ones doing the investigation.

**.**

**Chapter 2 – Strange Court Martial**

**.**

**0925 local, Thursday 23****rd**** April 1998, JAG HQ**

Admiral knew that something was wrong when he received call from Secretary of Defense. He only got one before and just like before he asked for Rabb and MacKenzie to help with the 'Deep Space Radar Telemetry' unit. Last few days were strange enough. First the military went to high alert. Then Air Force launched two modified Minuteman missiles from Vandenberg to orbit and then there was the shortest military shuttle flight in history. Endeavour landed at Edwards just hour ago. This was by no means a mere coincidence.

Harm and Mac arrived before he could change channel on his TV back to ZNN. "Major, Commander. SecDef wants you at Andrews in fifty minutes!"

"Admiral?" asked Harm. "Where are we going?"

Chegwidden looked at him and put down his glasses. "He did not told me. Just that it will take few days and that there will be C-22 waiting for you at Andrews in two hours. It's top secret and that's all I know."

Harm and Mac did not moved and just stared at their CO. "What are you waiting for. Dismiss."

"Aye, aye, sir."

**.**

**1320 local, Thursday 23rd April 1998, Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs**

When the C-32 landed at Peterson most of the passengers left the plane. They were cadets from the Air Force Academy or Special Forces that returned home. They were home here and knew where to go. Harm and Mac felt that they did not belonged here. One problem was that they were here not on official business for JAG. The second was that without someone from the SGC they would not have a way to get in.

Thankfully SGC sent car for them. Major Ferretti volunteered and since Jack was still under orders not to leave the base it was probably the best option.

Ferretti stopped his staff car only few meters away from the two officers he was here to meet. They looked lost. He saluted and then he offered them his hand. "Major, Commander. I'm Major Ferretti. General Hammond wants to see you ASAP."

Both of them saluted back and Harm than shook Major's hand. "Thank you for coming here for us, Major."

**1430 local, Thursday 23rd April 1998, SGC, Colorado Springs**

After they were checked several times on their way in they were led thru the corridors and two elevators down to the to 27th level. Once there Major Ferretti took them straight to the briefing room.

Nearly all the seats were already taken. There were several senior officers from Pentagon, SG-1 and some other members of SGC.

"Major, Commander, Welcome to SGC. I know that you were not told much so I will tell you what happened." General Hammond decided that he should brief the JAG officers himself. When they had to introduce new people to the program previously he usually let others to do it. This time it was different. Jack and Cater were the one that would be under investigation and except for Ferretti there were not much of the senior officers present at the base now.

"In the past few days our civilization barely escaped destruction. You probably noticed that all our military units were put on DEFCON 2 for a few hours."

Harm nodded. He got call from reserve fighter squadron that was short on pilots to prepare for eventual activation as fight pilot.

"You probably asked yourselves why you are here. Senator Kinsey wants court martial for SG-1. On the other hand President himself wants to give them medals for saving our planet."

Harm and Mac alike raised their eyebrows. That really was delicate situation.

"As you know senator can not sent military officers to court martial."

Both JAG officers nodded at that. Air Force used the same laws written in UCMJ like the Navy and Marine Corps did.

"By the book you do not have any jurisdiction over SGC but you already have knowledge about Stargate program. Joint Chiefs and President wanted to give Kinsey his shot and at the same time make sure that SG-1 come out of it as clean as possible."

Harm smiled at that. He was not a fan of senator Kinsey himself.

"I want to see your preliminary report at 1600 tomorrow. SG-1 and any other personnel will be at your disposal. We prepared two VIP rooms at level 25 for you."

"Yes, sir." replied both JAG officers at the same time.

As she was part of the senior staff of the base Janet was in the briefing room too. "Since you will be here for a few days I need to give you two check up."

Mac looked unbelievable at the petite doctor. "Is that necessary?" She hated medical checkups.

"It is, Major!" replied Janet in her commanding doctor voice. "Now when we have all people back from Alpha site we resumed our normal operations. You will be here for some time so there is risk of exposing you to alien infection."

**.**

**1500 local, Thursday 23****rd**** April 1998, VIP Room 4, Level 25, SGC**

After doctor Fraiser was done with them Harm and Mac went to the two rooms they were assigned for the duration of their stay and prepared for the investigation. They could not talk with General Hammond and Colonel O'Neill at the same time as they were two most senior officers of the base. So they decided to talk with the General together and then divide the rest of officers and civilians between them. They worked like that on most of their investigation and the fact that they talked with Air Force officers and civilians did not mattered at all.

General Hammond told them about the orders to close the SGC and his unsuccessful tries to counter them. Harm asked more questions than Mac as he had more background with special operations than she had. Mac asked few but to the point about the access to the armory and to the gate room and it's operating computers. After nearly hour and a half both Ham and Mac knew as much as they could about the incident with some minor details that did not got the report that General wrote just after SG-1 went thru the gate and they were not able to establish the wormhole again.

_Flashback:_

_Just after Jack left his office Hammond opened the second envelope he got from president's aide. He read the page three times and then he shredded it. He had to prepare for the outcome of the letter for Jack and the advise he gave to Sam._

_When ha was sure that Jack had enough time to read the letter he ordered most remaining personnel and the guards to prepare and pack the upper levels for the shipment to other locations._

_Hammond knew that if he left his office and the lower levels with less than skeleton crew it would give SG-1 the time to decide what to do. He went to the mess to take sandwich and then he wandered through the now more or less packed labs at level 19._

_End of flashback._

When they were finished with General Hammond Mac handled the guard that stood at the corridor her list of the people she wanted to interview. Harm handled his to the guards before they started. She moved her briefcase and papers to the other VIP room and prepared for Colonel O'Neill. He was in charge of SG-1 and it was his responsibility that they followed orders.

Mac wanted to know what lead the leader of SG-1 to his unauthorized mission. He told her about his

_Flashback:_

_When Jack found out that Hammond returned from Washington he went to his office to talk to him. The answer General brought from the capital he was not pleased t all._

"_The Stargate will be buried, literally and figuratively."_

"_So we will leave our planet without defense?" Jack was ready to leave. He was pissed of on politicians. That was why USA lost the Vietnam war._

"_Jack, wait!" ordered Hammond._

"_What?" asked Jack and turned back in the door. _

"_President sent you this." Hammond gave Jack sealed blue envelope with president's seal and J written on one side._

"_What's inside?" asked Jack as he looked at the envelope._

"_I don't know but you should open it and read whatever is inside."_

_Jack pocketed the envelope and left the office._

_End of flashback._

"So you already decided not to follow orders at that time?"

Jack leaned back in his seat and looked that the lawyer before him. He faced Air Force investigators before. After few of his black ops missions went south he had to answer for his actions. "No! At that point I was just pissed off. I went to my quarter and read the letter. After that I returned to the briefing room. Rest of my team was already there."

Flashback:

"_A medical attack could be successful."_

"_Surgical attack, Teal'c. It's called a surgical attack," corrected him Jack. He had to thought about all the possibilities. On one hand they had been ordered to do nothing. On the other hand he knew what was at stake here. _

_The letter he got from president himself was clear it was up to him._

Colonel O'Neill, as you already know I can not override Senate on this matter. I also can not give you any orders that would violate Senates decision. I know you served our country for many years and what you already sacrificed. I want you to know that if you choose to act on the information you have and you save our planet I will make sure you will not be sent to court-martial.

President

PS: Use your tactical skills and remember your officer's and SGC program oaths.

"_And I'd feel like an idiot."_

"_Sir?" asked Sam._

"_I was answering Daniel's question. If we don't do something now and they do attack later...I'd feel like an idiot." Jack finally decided. "We go."_

_Sam remembered the conversation she had with Hammond just after he returned from Washington. "I, too, will go." Sam followed her heart and instincts and the man she admired._

"_It's not an order, Captain."_

"_I understand that, Colonel."_

"_Thank you."_

_End of flashback._

At the same time Captain Samantha Carter told Harm nearly the same thing from her point of view. She added one thing that the rest of the team did not know. She did not told that to anyone.

_Flashback:_

_Sam watched the security monitors and saw General Hammond at the checkpoint at the second elevator. She excused herself and run to his office. His face showed the result of his trip to Washington._

"_General, so it's final?"_

"_I'm afraid so."_

"_In that case, I need advise from uncle George." said Sam and gave him her best puppy look._

"_What do you want, Sam?"_

"_What should I do?"_

"_Sam, you are smart, brave and you know how to handle tough situations. Follow your heart and you will be fine."_

"_I hope so." Sam knew that she wanted to continue to go to missions but as long as she would follow the advise she got she thought that in the end she would be fine._

_End of flashback._

**.**

**1500 local, Saturday 25****th**** April 1998, SGC**

General Hammond was reading the report in his office when Jack knocked at his door. He looked up and waved to his second in command to come in.

"Sit down, Jack."

Jack took the one of the two chairs that General Hammond had here for visitors. He knew that the two JAG lawyers worked hard on their report. After they were finished with their interviews they went through relevant papers concerning SGC and their operations.

"They did good job. This report is shorter and better than most I ever read from our own JAG officers."

Jack smiled nervously. "So we came out clean?"

"Not completely. They recommend non judicial punishment. While you disobeyed your orders you did what you swore to do to defend United States and the whole planet when you accepted position as my second in command and leader of SG-1. On the other hand you used government property without authorization."

"I know that. Hell, we all knew that we will face punishment if we return."

"I will think of something appropriate. I can't held you on base as Sam is here more than enough already. And I need you in the field so that eliminate this option."

Jack knew that Hammond could find something that would be punishment and at the same time it would not put them or the planet in danger.

Hammond closed the file and put it in the folder that contained everything about the mission and sealed documents about the shuttle flight. "Where are they now?"

"They are in the Infirmary. Fraiser wanted to give them quick exam before they leave." Two of the teams that went on missions have already returned. One of them from planet with exotic plants and insects so there were slight risk of infection.

"I would like to see them before they leave."

Jack grinned at that. "General, I know the look you now have. You want them to be part of SGC."

"We need someone from JAG to help us. These two already know a lot of stuff about us."

"But they are not Air Force." Jack knew that SGC was created as special project and they used Marines but that was something different.

"No, they are not." Agreed Hammond. "But I already called the Joint Chiefs and they agreed with me on that matter. Sooner or later we will have legal problems with some of our men and women and I do not want to give our secrets to too much lawyers so we need to consider someone from the JAG anyway."

Jack only smiled at that.

"Anyway, Jack. What was in the letter you got from President?"

"I think you already figured it out, sir."

**.**

**1940 local, Wednesday 6th May, Harm's apartment**

They were resting together on the couch after long day at court. Mac was on top of Harm and used his chest as a pillow. "So Harm, do you think that they will really transfer you?"

"I think so. General Hammond know how to do it without raising too much attention."

"You know if you will be part of SGC we will not have to keep our relationship secret any more."

"Not that we have to do it now. Admiral is not against it. He plans to keep Bud and Harriet together after they are married."

"I know its just it would be more difficult with us. Harriet is not Judge Advocate after all.

"Ninja Girl, I know the look. What are you planning?"

Mac got up and went to his bathroom. "Care to join me for shower?" She did not waited for answer and pulled up her sweatshirt and tossed it to the floor. She stripped rest of her clothes before she got to the shower.

"Always!" said Harm and hurried after Mac. He also stripped all of his clothes on the way. When he got to his shower Mac was already inside and had the water running.

Harm hugged her from behind. Mac moaned as she felt his erection on her butt. She turned her head to see her best friend. "Kiss first, lovemaking later, Flyboy."

Harm turned her so he could kiss her and put his hand on he ass cheeks. Harm put series of kisses on Mac's neck. She moaned. This was her weak point. While he did that he took her boobs to his hands and started to play with Mac's nipples.

Mac was holding up but barely. Harm did not yet got to her pussy and she was already completely wet inside.

"I want you inside. Now!"

Harm pushed Mac against wall and held her up by her ass. Mac enveloped him with her legs and let him to slide her down on his dick. Somewhere deep inside her mind she knew they should use condom but with the more than likely transfer of Harm from JAG she did not cared anymore.

**.**

**1030 local, Monday 11th May, JAG HQ**

Harm stood in Admiral's office to receive his new orders. He knew that soon he would be part of the super secret command and he would be stationed at JAG while his services would not be needed.

"Commander, I received your new orders from the Pentagon. Looks like your involvement with Air Force got you new assignment."

Harm only nodded.

"As of tomorrow morning you are transferred to Pentagon to special project DSRT52. Since your position do not require your permanent presence and you are needed here at JAG HQ you will be TAD."

"Yes, sir."

"Tomorrow you will report at Pentagon and finish your transfer papers."

**.**

**1720 local, Tuesday 12th May 1998, JAG HQ**

It was long day. Harm had to sign a lot of papers concerning his transfer and his TAD position. After that he talked with officers at Pentagon that were associated with SGC and for few minutes he also talked with Joint Chiefs. It took him all morning and he was glad that he returned before Mac left for home. After he sorted his own papers Harm went to Mac's office. "You ready for your date, Mac?"

Mac put last two folders she had on her desk to their respective drawers. "With you? Always."

Harm grinned at her. Now that they were not under the same chain of command they did not had to hide any more.

**.**

* * *

Next chapter – TBD, eventually Thor's Crash


	3. Chapter 3: Secrets

**Note:** Sorry it took me so long to publish this chapter but I wrote the next one and forgot about the fact that I did not finished this one so here it is. Chapter 4 will be finished next week and so will be next chapter in the JAG storyline.

**.**

**Chapter 3 – Secrets**

**.**

**1800 local, Thursday 25th June 1998, O'Neill's house, Colorado Springs**

There was nothing for him do to at the SGC at the moment so Jack went home early. Daniel and Teal'c prepared for their mission to Abydos and Sam worked on one of her recent projects. The upcoming ceremony in Washington where he and Carter would receive their medal for saving Earth from the President meant that he would had to wear his dress uniform all day during his stay in capital. He did not liked that and the fact that he would had to play the politic game with other senior Air Force officers from Pentagon. Jack wanted to spent at least part of his time differently than exchanging pleasantries with career desk pushers.

He decided to write email to Harmon Rabb and Sarah MacKenzie but he knew that if he sent it from base computer it would leave trace to the SGC. He used his own computer at home and his private email address. He and Carter were to flight to Washington early Sunday so they would have enough time to prepare for the ceremony itself which would be held at one of the Air Force administrative buildings Monday at 0900. He wrote to Rabb that he would like to meet him and his partner to thank them for the work they did. Not counting the few short visits to receive his medals that did not lasted more than few hours he had not been in DC for years. Most likely all the places he used to hang out with his buddies were already gone or changed so he would not have much to do in the evening. And most of his friends were scattered across the whole world or dead anyway.

**.**

**0905 local, Friday 26****th**** June 1998, JAG HQ**

Harm went thru his mails and when he found out nothing was urgent he looked at his emails. There were fewer than usually but one caught his attention. It was from Jack O'Neill. When he opened it he found out that it did not came from his military address but AOL one. He read it and after he finished he went to Mac's office.

Harm knocked on the door frame and after Mac gave him nod he went in. "Mac, just got email form Jack O'Neill."

Mac looked at him with unsaid question. She knew that if SGC wanted something they would go thru Major Davis in Pentagon.

"Yeah, he and Carter will be in DC for their medal ceremony. He would like to meet for few drinks in any place we choose. It's Sunday evening and if they would have time than again Monday late afternoon."

Mac frowned on the drinks part but she was eager to talk to the Stargate officers. "What do you have in mind?"

"McMurphy's? It's nice place and they have good drinks."

"Unless you want take them to one of new Thai restaurants I agree."

"No, they do not have good drinks. Even their beer is bad."

**.**

**1920 local, 28th June 1998, McMurphy's**

Jack thanked God for Carter's orientation sense. That and the fact that this was obviously hanging place for lot of Navy officers. It looked like one of his favorite bars when he was stationed at MacDill AFB. Before he could look around Rabb already called at them.

"Here, Colonel!" called Harm and waved at the pair of Air Force officers. They did not wore their uniforms but they still looked differently than the sailors and marines that made up most of the customers.

Jack observed the booth where the two lawyers sat and decided that it was private enough for them. "Commander, Major. I' m glad you were able to make time to meet us."

"No problem, Colonel. And it is Harm and Mac."

Jack smiled. "In that case call me Jack. What should I get here to drink?" He noticed that Harm had bourbon and Mac had something with lime.

"They have only good stuff here but the beer is only in bottles."

Waitress came to them and asked for their drinks. "I will have beer. What do want, Carter?"

Sam thought about it for a while. She did not liked beer that much but what else she wanted? "What kind of wine you have."

"I will bring you our wine list." Not much of their customers wanted wine but there were enough so they served it too.

"So why you wanted to meet?" asked Harm. He was curious because Jack O'Neill had to have better things to do.

"I wanted to thank you for what you did for us back in April."

The waiter chose that moment to bring Jack's beer and wine list for Sam.

Carter looked at the list and chose Chardonnay from one of new Virginia wine yards.

Harm smiled at that. The one time he went here with Meg when she was still his partner she chose the same brand.

When Sam got her wine Mac decided to continue their conversation. "It should be us who should thank you or probably General Hammond. Thanks to Harm transfer we could be together and we do not have to worry that we are in the same chain of command."

"Yeah, It's fine that we don't have to ask Admiral to let us serve together as we are now dating openly." Mac smiled widely and took and squeezed Harm's hand.

"Sweet." Jack sipped his beer and winked at Sam. She just sat with her wine before her deep in thought. "Watcha thinking, Carter?"

"Nothing, just about tomorrow and the fact that I will meet the President."

Jack looked at her. _I__s she nervous?_ Samantha Carter, Earth leading expert on Stargate was nervous to meet President? "He is nice guy. Met him few times. His predecessors were less pleasant."

"Yup, he will probably try to tell some joke about you being blonde but don't worry about it. He joked about me being lawyer when I received my Navy Cross." Harm had to laugh when he remembered it

Sam looked at them widely. She had no idea Jack met the President. "When did you met him, sir?"

"Received two awards from him and once I was part of the team that briefed him before my last mission to South America in 1993." That was sore subject to Jack. That mission went south and he lost one of his men and two others were injured. With the help of two field CIA agents he was able to finish the mission and it earned him another Silver Star that he could not wear.

Harm understood the Colonel's attitude to his past. He read his file and knew how much he gave to his country during his years in service. "I heard about the problems back than and suspected we were involved."

"Where is Jackson and the big guy?" asked Mac. She knew that at least Daniel as American citizen could also receive some medal even as a civilian. Government gave those to civilians that risked their lives during hurricanes, floods and other nature disasters.

"It's one year since Danny lest so he and T returned to talk with his father in law. Sha're is still missing so they had to decide what to do next."

"So you let them go and went here instead?"

Jack glared at Harm. "I wanted to go with them but Hammond insisted on both of us being here."

Sam smiled at that. She was at home here in DC. She spent more than two years at Pentagon and before that she was here for a year with her father before she joined the Air Force herself.

"I heard how you managed the situation with the Navajo code-talker."

**.**

**1440 local, Monday 29th June 1998, Andrews AFB**

After the ceremony was canceled and they were ordered to return to Colorado to receive their medals at SGC Jack forgot to call Rabb to tell him they would not be able to make it this afternoon. He used his military issue cell phone so Rabb did not knew who called. "It's Jack O'Neill. … Yeah we were recalled to Colorado so we can't make it."

Sam looked at him questionably as he smiled on something Rabb said. "What?" she asked quietly.

"They were sent to investigation to Norfolk so they would not be able to make it either. Harm said that he send me email but I did not read it yet."

"You have email?" asked Sam.

"Yup!" Jack looked into Carter's eyes and smiled.

Sam looked at him. She could not believe the dumb Colonel O'Neill used email? There must have been something behind this.

"Carter, there is a lot you don't know about me." He heard that the crew just started the first engine of their plane. "Now come on, our ride is ready."

Both of them grabbed their travel bags and went to board the Hercules that would take them home.

**.**

Next chapter – **Regs and Rules**


	4. Chapter 4: Regs and Rules

**Note:** This Chapter is situated just before Tok'ra episode and after Harm and Mac returned from Russia.

**.  
**

**Chapter 4 – Regs and Rules**

**.**

**1450 local, Tuesday 28th July 1998, Stargate Command**

Jack O'Neill knocked on the door to the General's office and waited. He knew that under normal circumstances he would not had to talk to his superior but SGC was never usual Air Force unit.

"Come in, Jack."

After he seated himself Jack went right to the point. "General, we have a problem. One of our team leaders came to me with a problem. He became romantically involved with captain under his command."

Hammond pinched bridge of his nose. This had to stop. Jack was not the first of his senior staff that told him that. Even as they were special project and covered under National Security Act they were subject to UCMJ and other Air Force regulations.

Hammond looked at Jack seriously. "I hope it is not you and Sam?"

Jack smirked. "No, sir. I know better than to face wrath of Major General Carter."

"Good. At least in this you do not bend the regs. Anyway, other departments have the same problem too." He paused to let his 2IC think about it. "As long as it was just at the administrative, support and science part of the program I thought that we could close eye on it but this is different."

"Yeah, we need to do something about it."

"Do you think we could loose anyone of them?"

"We could loose them on mission or in accident any day. The question is could we afford to let them go and train new one just because of this?"

"Probably no but I will have to go to DC and talk to Joint Chiefs and our lawyer Commander Rabb. You will be in command."

Jack did not liked it. He hated the paperwork that went with Hammond position. It was one of the reasons he did refused the promotion to Brigadier General before.

**.**

**1103 local, Wednesday 5th August 1998, JAG HQ**

When Harm returned to his office from court where he was all morning he found message from Tiner. He was ordered to report at his Pentagon office. The message did not said anything else so he suspected it had to be some legal problem at SGC.

He left his briefcase on his desk and went to Tiner to ask more about the orders and to inform Admiral about his abstention.

"Tiner, I got your message. Can you tell me more?"

Tiner looked to his notes and found the ones to Rabb's message. "Yes, sir. It was Major Davis and he said that you are needed for at least this afternoon."

"I thought it was that. Is Admiral here?"

"Yes. He wants to see you."

**.**

**1235 local, Wednesday 5th August 1998, Pentagon**

After he checked in at the gate he went straight to Major Davis office that was theoretically also his own. He was there only a few times since his transfer but he remembered where it was. When he entered the office he saw that Major Davis was not alone. General Hammond sat at the desk and had few folders with "Top Secret" marks before him.

Harm stood at attention. "Reporting as ordered, Sir."

"At ease, Commander."

"General, I did not know you would be here."

"I wanted it to be that way. For last couple of days I had serious conversations with Joint Chiefs and President himself about the regulations at SGC."

"What regulations, sir?" asked Harm. He was curious. Regulations and rules were something that was not that easy to mess up with. They were put in by Secretary of each branch and usually reviewed by senate committee.

"As you know when the SGC was made operational after Aphopis visited us last year we changed some of the rules about women and civilians in combat situation. SGC was re-designated as combat base and we needed Carter and some others in the field. This new situation is about frat. regs."

"What about them?"

"Since the incident with Aphopis' ships few people asked what to do as they wanted or already became romantically involved with others in the same chain of command."

Harm nodded. He understood that on the base such as SGC relationships would form sooner or later. It was close to ships but ships returned home and the crew got their leaves. SGC personnel lived outside the base but worked together in close quarters all the time.

"We choose our personnel carefully so we could hardly loose any of them. There is option for some of them to retire and return as civilians but most do not want to leave Air Force or Marine Corps. The main problem is two females, one is Master Sergeant and the other is Marine Captain. We need them both and they want to continue their military careers."

"You know, from legal point of view changing regs will nor be that difficult. Regulations are made by respective department Secretaries. Secretary of the Air Force to change them or based on the status of SGC they also could be changed by the Secretary of Defense or by Executive order."

Hammond nodded at that. He knew that already. Since neither he nor the President wanted to bring Secretary of the Air Force into this the beast solution would be special executive order from President.

"The same sex policy is something different. It was put in by Congress. Therefore there are only two ways you could change that. You either could try the harder and longer approach by submitting the change to Senate committee and thru them get it as exception like the one NSF and NOAA got even when they serve on military ships or bases and the UCMJ is applicable to them. The other and much faster possibility is again by Executive Order. President under his role as Commander in Chief could do that. It would need to be held top secret as lot of members of our current Congress are against same sex relationships."

Hammond smiled. Rabb was the type of lawyer that knew what to do and how to do it. It was one of the reason why he got him transferred to this position. He was also known as troublemaker and hotshot pilot and lawyer at the same time but he had long line of success to back his methods. "Commander, we need to address that issue ASAP. Can you write some draft for the changes in regulations for us."

Harm knew that he had to be at court the next morning and there was still some work on the case that he needed to do. "I can write something but I need to call Admiral Chegwidden and inform him that I will not be able to go to court tomorrow."

"Sure, commander. What else do you need?"

Harm thought about it. This was big task. "I need the current version of the regulations and Air Force specifics."

**.**

**1945 local, Wednesday 5th August 1998, Harm's apartment**

Harm knew that he would have to return to Pentagon in the morning. He done most of the work but the formulations were still not right. He was not Capitol Hill lawyer that made laws or changed them on daily basis. He knew what to do but the status of SGC made his work harder than he initially thought.

Mac used her key and opened the door. She stopped at one of her favorite Chinese restaurant on her way and bought them dinner.

"Hey, Mac." Harm did not even looked at her.

Mac walked to Harm and kissed him. "Hard day, Harm?"

"Yeah, I worked with regulations and I still need to write the final versions."

Mac went to the kitchen and put their dinner on the plates. "Sounds more like my line of work."

Harm surprised her when he hugged her from behind. "Yeah but at least this is for good cause."

Mac poured water to their glasses. "So what regs. you worked on. Or is that something you can not tell me?"

"Frat regs. and the 'don't ask, don't tell policy'. Since our visit in April they had few couples that they could not loose and they want to be together and in the service."

Mac turned and quickly kissed Harm before she she slipped from his embrace to the other side of the table. "Looks like they are the proving ground for the changes to come."

"You think they will change that generally?" asked Harm as he sat down and took the chopsticks.

"They plan to allow women for some combat roles in the future and SGC already proved that it is possible. It will be harder to sell to general public and Congress but look at Israel."

"Or you." He pointed his chopsticks at Mac. "You held your ground the few times I saw you in combat."

"Don't even try, Flyboy!"

"What?" asked Harm sheepishly.

"If you think you will not have to wash my back and give me massage you are wrong."

**.**

**1030 local, Monday 17th August 1998, Stargate Command**

It has been almost two weeks since his return from DC when Hammond ordered the senior staff to the briefing room. Some of them knew why he went to Washington.

"As of this morning President signed orders that change or remove some military regulations for this base. You are the senior staff and as you will be involved in the transition process."

With this said most of the officers tried talk at the same time. Hammond had to silent them before he could finish.

"Some of you already know about relationships that formed here. So the rules had been changed that any officer or enlisted could enter relationship with anyone. ... If they obey three simple rules."

"They have to inform their COs first. Then they would have two months test period when their COs would have the right to transfer them from their current position if they showed some form of nonprofessional behavior or favoritism. After that they will be free to continue the relationship as long as they stay professional when on duty."

Some of the staff smiled at that. Most of them knew about relationships that already formed in their respective commands.

"One more thing." Hammond waited until they weer quiet again. "As the CO of this base I want to know about all the couples so when someone approach you write short report to me so I can review it."

**.**

**1800 local, Friday 21th August, Carter's Lab, SGC**

With his work for the week done Jack already changed out of his uniform and was on his way home. He decided to check out if Carter was still at her lab. Hammond gave the whole SG-1 downtime for the weekend and then for two more days before they would need to return for their upcoming mission on Thursday. As he suspected she ignored Hammond's order and was still buried deep in her work "Carter, whatcha doin'?"

Sam looked at Jack and smiled at him. "I had to finish that test."

"You know Hammond gave us four days off. So you should change and go home." Jack sat at one of the free chairs. He was determined not to leave until Carter also left.

"Are you going to just sit here? Don't you have better thinks do to, sir?" He did this to her from time to time when she really overdid her workload.

"Nope." Jack just leaned in his chair and waited. "You need the time off as the rest of us."

She could not work while he was in her lab. He unnerved her. She wrote shot note on her computer and then turned off all her equipment. "Fine! You won. I'm going home."

Jack just smiled at her and reminded her of one more thing. "We are having team night tonight."

"What?" asked Sam. She knew that Daniel and Teal'c planned it but she forgot it was today.

"You know. Teal'c wanted to see Star Wars again so we chose my place this time."

Sam did not liked that. Colonel's house meant that he would drink and so if she would too she would need to call cab to get home. "Can I skip it this time?"

"Nope, you already missed most of them so this time it is mandatory for you."

Sam sighed and collected her notepad and few other things she brought to her lab. "When should I come?"

"Around nine. And bring some crackers or crisps."

Sam knew that Jack would not leave her lab before her. He did it few times in the past and she sneaked back in to finish the work she thought had to be done.

Jack waited and when Carter left he wrote "On leave til Wednesday" on the sticky note and put it on the door before he locked it with his card.

**.**

* * *

**Next Chapter: Life and Love**


	5. Chapter 5: Life and Love

**Note:** This Chapter is SG-1 only.

**.**

**Chapter 5 – Life and Love**

**.**

**2100 local, Friday 21th August 1998, Jack O'Neill house, Colorado Springs**

Samantha Carter, Captain in the US Air Force and expert on Stargate was nervous. Not that she was not here before. She was at her CO's house a few times but it was the whole team night idea that made her nervous. She heard about these from some of her friends. It was done mostly in small units and as until recently women never got near them it was all men thing. And as hard as she tried she was not one of them.

Jack saw Carter standing outside his door so he opened his door to let her in. "Hi, Carter. Make yourself at home. Danny called. He and T will be here in ten minutes."

"Sir?" answered Sam.

"Carter, I know you probably feel little nervous right now but I had these team nights with guys for years and there are only two rules. First is: No ranks!" He had learned that the hard way early in his career. The senior NCOs were more important so the smart officers treated them as equals and nearly half of his teammates were senior NCOs. "The second is we do what we want to and not what is expected by others."

Daniel and Teal'c arrived as Jack expected with pack of beer and the Empire Strike Back movie. Jack took the beer and put it to his fridge. He took out three cold beers and put them on his coffee table. Before he went back to kitchen for bowls full of popcorn and crisps Jack asked: "Carter, what do you want?"

Sam considered it. "Do you have any wine?" Not that she did not liked beer but she liked wine more.

"Yup. Have a few bottles. Come here and choose which one you want."

Sam did not expected that. O'Neill always drank beer or stronger stuff so there was no reason for him to have any wine. Hid he bought it just for her or some of his other friends also liked wine?

**.**

**1410 local, Tuesday 8th September 1998, SGC**

Jack was tired of the paperwork he had to do as the base second in command. When he accepted this position he knew that aside from his role as the leader of SG-1 and commander of all SG teams he would have to write a lot of reports. The problem was that while the SGC had science department it did not had military commander for it. Daniel was in charge of the archeological, historical, cultural and linguistic part of the research and he learned how to write reports about his work. His contract was specific on that after all. Aside from few Air Force personnel that wrote proper reports the civilians usually forgot half of the information that the higher ups wanted and it was up to him to add it before he sent it to Hammond.

When he finished the last report on progress of training civilian and scientists in basic combat needed for their position in SG teams Jack decided to take his problem to general Hammond.

General let him in and Jack handled him his report. Hammond did not opened the folder and just looked at Jack. "Is there something new in that report?"

"No, sir. We will need better training program in the future if we decide to expand our science teams but we are fine for now."

Hammond knew that this was not the only thing that Jack wanted to talk about. "So what is the real reason, Jack? I don't need that for two more days."

"General, I think we should consider to get military commander for our science department."

Hammond looked at him. He knew that the situation with science department was strange to begin with. There was Carter that in fact was in charge of things but she was on SG-1 and then there was Dr. Lee that was responsible for the experiments but he lacked the sense for military reports among other things. "I know, Jack. The last person I considered is now in charge of the R&D side of the program in New Mexico."

"Carter is ready for promotion. So what about her?"

Hammond already considered it. He wanted her to be in charge from the beginning but she was only Captain. It was different with Dr. Fraiser. She was brought in from Academy hospital as best possible replacement when Kawalsky killed their original CMO who was newly promoted Lieutenant Colonel. "Write recommendation that I can give to the promotion board and we will see what they decide."

"Will get right on it," answered Jack and left Hammond's office.

Jack went straight back to his office and wrote the recommendation. He wrote a lot of these in the past but this was different. Either as pilot or later in special operations the promotion board knew what he and the people under him did and why they should be promoted. This time he had to write around it and use a lot of technical language to describe Carter's lab work and her devotion to her job.

Three pages of military terms and then full page of his own opinion. Not bad for a recommendation for promotion for his 2IC. He knew all the right words that usually got those he recommended through the process of promotion. Carter was younger than most of the captains the board considered but she was not the youngest one.

When he finished it Jack saved the file and printed it.

Hammond looked at the clock on the wall and could not believe it. Even old pencil pusher like him never wrote recommendation tat fast. "You work fast, Jack."

"Learned that during my missions. Better to get rid off the paperwork fast or you got buried under it."

"You know how to write a recommendation. How many you have written so far?" asked general Hammond when he read it all.

Jack chuckled. "A few. During my time I processed most of Para-Rescue and Combat Controllers senior officers and NCOs and some of the Security Forces commanders."

General smiled at that. As much as Jack O'Neill was sometimes pain in the ass he was one of the best officers United States Air Force had.

**.**

**2000 local, Friday 2nd October 1998, O'Neill's house**

It took Jack three team nights in two months to make Sam loosen a little. She still called him sir but at least she no longer felt weird. He treated her like he treated all other officers or noncoms that was part of his teams in the past and it worked.

This time they watched the Holiday Special. Teal'c was ecstatic when he learned that there was another Star Wars movie that he did not seen yet. It was not an easy task to get good copy of it but with help of some fans they got it.

"It really is the worst Star Wars movie ever made," said Sam when they were somewhere in the middle.

"It's different," agreed Teal'c.

"You want to finish it or not?" asked Jack.

"Yes!" said the trio at the same time.

When the movie ended Jack grabbed all the empty beer bottles and bowls that was full of crackers just two hours ago. He put the bottles next to the other empty ones and looked outside through the kitchen window. The sky was crystal clear. "Great!" he yelled.

"What?" asked Daniel from the living room as he waited for the cassette to rew

"The sky is clear!" Jack run to his office and grabbed his laptop and camera and run to the roof to his telescope.

Jack put the laptop on small table next to the telescope and booted it up. While he waited for the computer he tried the telescope on few stars that he used to asses the clearness of the sky. He could see all the stars clearly so he had good chance to find the stars he wanted to take photos of.

"What are your targets today, Jack?" asked Daniel.

"I hope to take pictures of the two stars where we were last month. That and Chulak's sun, finally."

Sam was the last one to climb to the roof. She just stood there with her mouth open as she stared at the laptop and the fact that Jack O'Neill used one at home. She knew that he had telescope and that the new program that NASA published for amateur astronomers to track certain stars was great one. She just never imagined him to use it.

Jack noticed Sam and decided to break the silence. "Carter!"

"Sir?" she asked and pointed at the laptop. It was nearly the same model she used in her lab.

"As I said before there is a lot you don't know about me." He just gave her one of his smiles and left her to think about it.

**.**

**1600 local, Monday 23rd November 1998, Carter's Lab, SGC**

Jack did not liked to force Carter out of her lab again but he felt she was near her break point. She pulled long shifts last week and she even worked all weekend. He was only able to get her to eat lunch with the rest of SG-1 and than she hurried back to her lab. She even slept on the base half the time.

"Carter, take a break!" He did not ordered her as he knew her research was important but

"Why?"

"Thanksgiving is in three days. We have no mission before us and you should enjoy the day off."

"And do what? With my dad on the other side of the galaxy I do not have anyone here."

"What about your brother?" he asked. Jack knew she had brother that liven in California abut her file did not had more information.

"We don't speak much since I joined the Air Force."

"Don't worry. I plan to threw dinner for Danny, T, Cassie, Janet and you since none of you had any plans of your own."

**.**

**2250 local, 9th August 1969, woods outside Philadelphia**

Neither of them expected to end like this here. Daniel, Teal'c and the two hippies Michael and Jennifer already called it night. Only Sam and Jack still sat outside by the bonfire. They drunk some strong stuff. Thankfully for Sam Jack only had one bottle but even that was enough for her get drunk. Jack want not completely sober but apparently he handled alcohol better than she did.

Jack was pointing at the stars and was telling her their names when she leaned closer to him and Jack took that opportunity to do something he wanted to do since he saw her for the first time in the briefing room.

Sam just looked at Jack as their lips parted. He kissed her. Her Commanding officer, Colonel Jack O'Neill kissed her. And she liked it. Something changed between them. She no longer felt the crush she had on him for more than three years. Sam thought that she was past that for some time but now she finally understood that she still had feelings for Jack O'Neill. She trusted him and all other members of SG-1 with her life and knew that no matter what they were there for each other. That made them friends but it was not all.

Jack knew the moment he realized what he did that it was wrong. Yes, there was the new rules under which he and Sam could be together but he did not trusted himself enough to be on the same team as her if he let something develop between them. At least he had enough control over himself that he did not continued. The already drunk part of him wanted to take Sam here and spent the rest of their lives together preferably in bed. The rational part of him knew that even if he and Sam would end up together they would need to talk first about a lot of things.

Sam waited what would happen next and was confused when Jack did nothing. After a while Jack stood up and went back to the bus. Sam just sat there until she was sure she no longer wanted another kiss. When she was sure she extinguished the fire and than she too went to the bus to sleep the booze off. They had a lot to do tomorrow.

**.**

**Wednesday 3rd February 1999, Carter's Lab, SGC**

Jack knocked on the opened door and waited until Sam noticed him. She worked on another of her pet project that combined Earth and Gua'uld technology. He no longer had to drag her away from the lab as she finally accepted that long shifts and lot of coffee were not good for her. Janet made that clear in her periodic check-up.

When she heard the knock Sam switched the experiment off and took off her protective glasses. She looked at Jack with silent question.

"Good news. The board sent their first list and you are on it."

"Sir?" asked Sam. She did not knew anything. She was younger than most of the captains considered for promotion and she did not sought it.

Jack went to her and grabbed her arm. "On, come on. We have party to plan, ceremony to attend and new office for you to set up."

Sam understood the ceremony and party, they were traditional when someone got promoted but new office? She had her lab and then she shared desk in office with few others. She newer used it as she did all her paperwork on her laptop in her lab or anywhere else.

**.**

* * *

**Next Chapter: Millennium and Metrics**


	6. Chapter 6: Millennium and Metrics

**Note:** This and the next crossover chapter happens during the whole year so they are separate but the story is in bot of them. I decided to write them this way to get the storylines clear. Do not worry as there will be more chapters on the blank spots left in these two chapters.

**.**

**Chapter 6 – Millennium and Metrics**

**.**

**0820 local, Monday 4th January 1999, JAG HQ**

Admiral knew that with the new year and the finally passed laws and governmental directives he had to inform all his staff. It gave him headache because after years of talking about it President finally signed the adoption of SI units. Most of his officers served abroad so they used the international units like speed and distance in kilometers during their stay in Europe or Japan. Problem was the transition period that would start in July. They would need to write both systems in their reports for some time to get around the general confusion.

He asked the judges and most of the administrative staff to attend this meeting too. They used the whole conference room and some of the younger officers had to sit at chairs by the walls. After all of them gathered he addressed them. "Thank you all for coming here. The issue that I want to cover here today is the change of measurement system that will occur this and the next year. President signed the documents and special executive orders to finally move with the rest of the world to the metric system."

This made some of the present officers to murmur. Most of them had to learn the international units in school but after that they forgot about them as everyday life was measured in inches pounds and Fahrenheit.

"President is going to address the general public this evening but there are few things you need to know before that press conference. The change will occur in stages. The first stage is already complete. Science community and some others use SI for the general purposes for some time. Now is time to start making change in the government and public services. The first batch will change from the First of July. We are not part of that first batch of commands that had to use metric system by July but we will interact with Spec Ops and some others that will."

**.**

**1015 local, Monday, 4th January 1999, SGC**

With General Hammond still on leave with his grandchildren this briefing was up to Jack. It was important one so there were more people than the briefing room could normally handle. Most of them had to sit on additional chairs or stood by the walls.

"First, I would like to wish you all Happy New Year."

"Now, back to the issue why I ordered all of you here." Jack picked the papers he up to that moment had on the table. "These are brand new government directives and executive orders concerning the adoption of the SI system. As you may know we are one of the last countries that do not use "metric" system."

Younger officers were confused a little.

"President and DOD ordered that unlike the rest of the country all military, scientific and central governmental offices had to use only SI units beginning next year. We as a specific command are under even more time pressure. We will have to start to use meters and kilograms from the first of July this year. After that for the rest of this year we will use both system just to be sure that there is no confusion. Than it will be metric only."

The scientists and some of the engineers looked happy. Before they signed for this job many of them worked in agencies or companies that already used SI. It became more and more apparent that companies working with international partners or exporting needed to use the wide-world spread units to measure if they did not wanted to make their calculations in both systems.

"For those of you that were never stationed abroad and have already forgot your school years there are small differences that are easy to accept like we already accepted soda bottles that are made as 1 or 2 liters. The big differences is the speed. 50 miles per hour is a lot faster than 50 kilometers per hour and than there is temperature. Water boil at 100 degree Celsius and freezes at zero. So your normal temperature is not ninety five but 36 point 5."

**.**

**1100 local, Wednesday 2nd June 1999, SGC**

Jack stormed into Sam's lab. "Carter, I need your report by the end of the week. Pentagon wants update on how we are prepared."

"Sir!" Sam was glad that she did not run any sort of experiment. She actually worked on the report most of the morning "I have it nearly done. I only need few minor details from Bill Lee."

"That's good. Joint Chiefs wants to know about the progress we made so far. Apparently there is some delay in the special ops and they fear that we had fallen behind as well."

Sam wrote few more notes on her laptop. "Not going to happen here."

Jack sat on the edge of Sam's desk and looked at her. "I know. With your skills we will be switched before the rest of us notice it."

"I try. But what if we screw up the units anyway and some experiment turn up bad?"

"I tried to check with Harm but he did not answered my calls. I got Mac on the phone instead. She told me that if something happen we should find out what happened first and we should call JAG only if there is something we could not deal with here."

"So same as usual. I think that this do not call help from outside is going to be norm here for some time." Sam now completely forgot about her report and turned on another of her laptops. On this one she stored her non essential data.

"What list are you making now?"

"Oh, nothing important. I just remembered that we need update on our mission equipment and we also need to make sure that we are on the same page with NORAD."

**.**

**1720 local, Tuesday, 13th July 1999, JAG HQ**

"Damn, I should have remembered that SEALs were on the first batch of units that made the transition to meters. Now we have the whole report wrong." Mac was pissed at herself. It was her mistake. She was irritated lately. She did not had the comfort of Harm's ear and strong arms that seemed to solve everything lately.

Bud looked at the report and compared it to his own notes. It did not looked as bad as Mac thought. "Ma'am, I think that most of numbers are right. Only these in the first two statements are wrong. The others are in the metric system and we can correct these mistakes easily."

Technically it was not that huge mistake. The case depended on the distance that SEAL team used to adjust their support fire. From Bud's notes she saw that the first two members of the team used yards and the others used meters but they told that they meant meters. "We still need to check everything in the whole case and correct it if necessary."

"That will take some time, ma'am." Bud did not liked the fact that he would have to stay at the office later that he expected. He hoped for evening spent with Harriet. They found nice place from where they could watch the sunset but it seemed they would have to wait another day for that.

"Bud, I'm sorry for holding you here but I really need you to check it with me." It was all thanks to the fact that Harm was gone. One more week and everything should be fine again.

Bud sighed. "I know. Actually I'm glad you found it before Admiral or Judge Sebring. That would be much worse."

**.**

**1400 local, Sunday 8th August 1999, Harm's apartment**

"It's great, mom. I'm sure Mac will be glad to see you here. … I know you said you will come for her birthday but this is fine too."

"What?" asked Mac as she looked up from the magazine she read.

"Frank is coming here the day after tomorrow with some others from Chrysler and other companies to discuss the change with departments of transportation and treasure. Apparently they agreed on some sort of free of charge change of speed meters so our cars will be able to measure speed in kph instead in mph. And mom is coming with him here."

Mac smiled. That brought her back to something that she wanted to talk about with Harm for some time now. After Harm put down the phone Mac hugged him from behind. "Harm, we need a new car."

"You don't like driving in the Corvette with me?"

"I love that and you know I enjoyed driving it while you were gone but I want something we can put more stuff in. That and I would like to drive to the farm even in the winter. My car is not good for that and Corvette is best suited for good weather."

"Why don't we wait until next year and buy one that we will not have to put to service to change the speed meter after just a few months."

"Haaarm!"

"OK. Lets look what we could get. There should be enough online catalogs to decide what we want."

It took them rest of the evening but they finally found car that both of them liked and they would not need to wait for until the producer would built it. "Harm, do you see the price?"

Harm looked at it. It was well inside of their planned budget but he was more interested in technical details than the price until now. "Pretty cheap for this. There must be something wrong with it."

Mac looked that the technical info and found it first. "They should not be put on the marked here. Looks like there were bigger demand than expected and these were made for Canada. Speed meters are in kph and other parameters are certified in meters too. No wonder they put them for sale on the internet only."

Harm knew from his stepfather that next year cars would be produced from late September or early October depending on the model. From what he remembered from their conversation all American car producers made cars that could be certified for both US and Canadian markets. Some like Ford even made sure that the same models could be sold in Europe. So the they found was certified according to Canadian standards and these were nearly identical to the new American ones. "You still want it?"

"If we can get it than yes." Mac knew that this car was exactly what she dreamed for. When they would have kids this car was big enough to put them there with their stuff and lot of groceries.

Harm put light kiss on Mac's lips before he made his decision. "So we should talk to someone that can actually sell it to us."

**.**

**1320 local, Monday 8th November 1999, SGC**

"Carter, have a minute?" asked Jack as he waked into her lab.

"Yup." Sam smiled at him. She hid not worked on anything important. Lately most of their missions supplied scientist with writings from different cultures or some new minerals to study but not much turned up in her lab.

"Got a word from a friend on the Mars probe investigation board."

"So?" Sam was little curious about that. She knew some of the scientists that worked on the probe. She even used the same equipment that NASA sent to Mars on that probe for some of her experiment and field detectors.

"They are sure that the problem was with the ground software. It used pound-seconds and miles for calculations of trajectory change and guys in JPL burned the probe thanks to this."

"Will that affect the change to metric system?" Sam feared that. With some help from Jack and Janet she made sure that the whole SGC now used only SI units. She went ahead of the orders but she wanted no mix-ups. Some of the experiments could end up badly if you used wrong units. Put 10 pounds of pressure or 10 Newtons and the device could explode or you just destroy it instead of activate it.

"There sure will be some fight over it on Capitol Hill and media will add to it but we are already too far in the process. It would be nuts to change back and our industry would make sure that the government would pay for it."

That was one way to look at it. The second was that the rest of the world would make jokes about it. The only remaining superpower and it was not strong enough to bear the change and stepped back. That would put them years back on the political and probably even on economical and scientific level. "I will not change my labs back!"

"And you will not have to." Jack meant it. If the worst would come he was determined to fight the regression at lest for the whole Stargate program.

**.**

**1st January 2000**

All Americans that went to bed last night or early that morning woke up to different world. It was the same as always but at the same time it was very different. In Washington there was 5 below zero and 10 centimeters of snow instead of 23 degrees and four inches. Television and radio stations actually made the weather reports and news in the units that rest of the world used and understood instead of the now old _imperial_ ones. Government knew that no law or other legislation could wipe out the old units from the society as a lot of people were too accustomed to it but since nearly half of the nation knew the SI units from their school years it was only matter of time until the reason would unite the Americans with the rest of the World.

**.**

* * *

**Next Chapter – Old friends**


	7. Chapter 7: Old friends

**Note: **This is Stargate only chapter. I know that by the canon sources we do not have much info on Jack's background aside from the facts that he served in Vietnam and that in the 80s he was in Special Ops so I made this up. I hope you like it and the consequences it will have.

**.**

**Chapter 7 – Old friends**

**.**

**1400 local, Wednesday 17th March 1999, SGC**

Jack knew that he should go this year. He had no excuse other than he did not had anyone to go with. To the last one he went, it was with Sara but it was before Charlie's death. He put the invitation back to his pocket and wandered around the base. It was already two days since he found it in his mail but he could not bring herself to decide what to about it up until now.

When he got to Sam's lab he found her there looking into microscope as she studied one of the pieces of technology that SG-4 brought from their mission last week. It was nothing too advanced but the ingenuity behind it fascinated Carter.

"Carter, have a minute?"

Sam looked up from the microscope and gave him slight smile. "Let me finish this. I want to know how it works."

"Why don't you use the one with attached camera?" asked Jack. Not that it was not useful to look into the oculars of the microscope but with the camera they could take pictures or even videos of what the objects looked and behaved like.

"I like to look at things like that with my eyes. I have the other microscope for the really small details." Yeah, and for the really tiny details she had both transmission and scanning electron microscopes but they were not in her own lab. She had to share them with the rest of the scientists in SGC.

"OK." Jack smiled at her. It was one of the smiles he only used when he was alone with Samantha Carter.

Sam already associated that smile with him needing something from her. It did not stopped her from finishing her little experiment.

Jack waited patiently as she manipulated the small device with micro tweezers. When she was done he resumed their conversation. "I need a favor from you."

"Yes?" asked Sam. Jack was not usually that mysterious.

"I got invitation to annual gathering of an old unit I served with twenty years ago and I was not there since before my first mission to Abydos."

"And you want to go there need me to cover for you here?" It would be typical. Since her promotion and with her new position Jack shifted a lot of responsibility to her and when he was in Washington two weeks ago she was acting base XO instead one of the more senior and higher ranking officers.

Jack looked at his shoes. He felt like high school student asking girl out for the first time. "Actually, no. I want you to be my date."

"What?" Sam could not believe that. Jack O'Neill was asking her out to some drinking with his old buddies.

"You know, we have a lot of unused leave and it is expected I bring someone with me to these meetings. Will you go with me?"

Sam knew that their relationship was strange one. They became friends and after their conversation on Valentine's day they were progressing to became something more. "You sure?" She was not yet ready to bring their friendship to different level.

"Oh, come on. You can face Goa'ulds and other threads on our missions yet you are afraid to face few old buddies of mine?"

"Fine! I will go with you."

"Sweet!"

"And where is that little gathering happening?"

"Las Vegas." Anounced Jack happily.

**.**

**1300 local, Friday 26th March 1999, Treasure Island Hotel, Las Vegas**

They arrived late. It was all Daniel's fault. Thanks to him they missed their flight and had to wait for next Air Force freight from Peterson to Edwards and than another, shorter one, to Vegas. Jack planned to be here at least four hours ago and meet the guys before lunch.

Sam was in her uniform as she was not sure what to wear. After all, Jack wore his uniform too. It was better than any dress she had not to mention that even here in Nevada it was still cold enough outside for summer clothes. She had one set of civies but that was for their flight back.

As they checked in Jack found out that there was only one two bed room left for them. Somehow the hotel screwed up the order for two one bed rooms and only got the two bed info. At least it was not honeymoon suite.

When Jack told Sam the news she gave him one of her looks that said you kidding me. Unfortunately they did not had a choice in this.

It was strange but they slept next to each other in the same tent in the field for the past two years and few times in the same room when they were in the infirmary yet they felt awkward to sleep in the same hotel room.

Jack knew he was in trouble from the moment he realized that the rest of his old unit already got together. It wasn't only the fact that he did not showed up for a few years, he did that in the past too, but that he did not told them about his divorce and that he would arrive with someone.

**.**

The "Rattlesnakes" sat at the large table in private area but they made sure that they could see the reception area.

"Damn. It is Jack O'Neill." Called one of the officers from the table where the group gathered.

"And he has some girl with him."

"Told ya. At least they will share one room."

"You're cruel, you know."

"It is not Sara for sure! This one has uniform." Added another one.

"Another blonde. Guys, you think that he will get over his fixation on them?"

"Probably not."

They returned back to their drinks as Jack and the unknown blonde in Air Force uniform went to their room.

**.**

After light lunch in form of vegetable salad with roasted chicken Jack and Sam went to face Jack's old unit.

"Jack, is it really you. We nearly forgot how do you look like." Said the former commander of _Rattlesnakes_.

"Yeah!" agreed the rest of them.

Jack smiled at them. They were as funny as always. "Guys, it is good to meet you again."

"Yeah, yeah. If you wanted you would show up last year for twenty year anniversary.

Jack blushed a little. He knew that they would never forget to remind him that from all the members that were still alive he went to these gatherings only few times. "I would but last year I was in pretty bad shape. Mission went south and I ended with few broken ribs, leg and internal bleeding."

"Jack, care to introduce us?" Sam was amused. This was not the group she expected. She knew the black ops guys good enough and none of these looked nor behaved like one.

"Sorry, Sam." Jack was little embarrassed. "Guys, this is Major Samantha Carter. Sam, this is Colonel Anderson."

"Retired, Jack!" corrected him the man with gray hairs.

Jack nodded. Anderson was old enough to be retired for good. Nobody wanted old pilots aside from Private companies these days. "I know. I was too. Twice but got back each time."

"Sam, this is Frank Martin." Jack pointed at the only African-American in the group. "He was our version of Siler. Nearly as accident prone and maybe even better with all the technical stuff."

Sam made mental note to talk to this man later and ask him for more background on Jack O'Neill.

"This is William Shaw. One of the best pilots Air Force ever had."

"I think there are more than a few better than me."

"Don't sell yourself cheap, Will."

"I will tell it to Chuck next time. He s probably still better pilot than me and he do not fly much now."

"Thanks, now he will never talk to me again.

"And these two clowns are Andrew Nowak and Ron Spider.

"Where is Mitch and where did you put your wives?"

"Mitch is in Belgium." Anderson answered the question. As Jack gave him the what? Look. "Some work for Lockheed,"

"And our wives are at the hotel spa. They have nice one here." This was Will. His wife was great as far as Jack could remember but she was sometimes overprotective of her husband especially when he got together with the old gang.

"Sam, you want to try the spa? Get some massage?" Asked Jack with hope that she would go there. She needed some rest time and he wanted some time alone with his old buddies before she rejoin them.

It was tempting. Sam did not indulged herself in these activities and she could use a good massage. "I don't know. I'm not accustomed to such treatment."

"Just try it and if you do not like it there you can always join us here. I believe there is some old stories these would love to tell you."

**.**

Sam was in heaven. The massage she had released all tension from her neck and shoulders. She usually went to gym on base or to swimming pool to do few lengths at least twice a week. Now she realized that with all the stress and missions her routine was not enough. She would need to find some place where she could get massages like that in Colorado Springs.

What she could live without were the wives of the Jack old teammates. At least she did not introduced herself to them. They would ask her questions and she did wanted to answer these type of question. They talked about million things most of which she was not interested in. Most topics were fine with her but some she could not stand. Not only had they talk about their kids but two of them complained about the fact that Air Force did not gave them what they wanted. From what Sam understood their husbands were now in private sector and had much more money so they finally could enjoy life.

Sam knew that these Air Force wives would talk to each other for a while so she went to the sauna and let the hot wet air to relax her even more. It was great to enjoy things like that but Sam knew that she would not have much time for it once they return to Colorado.

**.**

When Sam was gone Jack finally let his old friends to ask him some questions that he knew they would ask.

"So, Jack, what happened with Sara?"

"Divorced. After Charlie died and I became suicidal Air Force recalled me back to active duty to mission that was considered too important yet too dangerous to give command to anyone else than me. Some top brass thought that I would not mind to die there if necessary. I came back and found the divorce papers on my table. Sara left and I was partly glad for that."

"Why?" asked Ron. He was happily married since before he joined _Rattlesnakes_ and could not understand how Jack could had been glad that she left him.

"During the mission I met some people that made me realize that there still were things to live for. I think that at the time Sara would not understood why I changed."

Will looked at Jack and understood what he meant by that. When Jack went to the gathering some years ago he was normal but he never showed the funny side that he was known for while he tested aircrafts with _Rattlesnakes. _"I heard about some instances when guys like you returned from mission and changed so much that their families did not recognized them."

"So Carter know Sara?" asked Frank.

Jack nodded. "They met shortly after Sam joined my unit."

"And?"

"Nothing. It was in Air Force business and Sam was still in my unit and we were not involved at all."

"Which brings us to the question, how are you two involved with the regs in place?"

"First, we are still somewhere between friends and becoming more. We care for each other and both of us know it but we are lucky. At first I was her CO. I needed someone to fiddle with technology while I play soldiers with the bad guys and I got her. Now she is head of the whole science and research department we have so she is not in my chain of command."

"You still walk on very thin ice. Does your CO know about it?" asked Andrew.

"Partly. He know we are close to each other and if there will be anything else we will have to tell him but there are some ways to go around the regs."

**.**

Sam returned to their room after she left the spa part of the complex and just relaxed on her bed. She did not bothered to put her uniform back on and was only in her undershirt and old shorts.

When Jack came looking for Sam he was stunned by how beautiful she looked even the old clothes she wore. She just laid on her back with her eyes closed but she did not slept.

"Sam, how was the spa?"

"Great! I need to find some place in Springs that gave as good massages."

"I may know of such place." Answered Jack but did not mentioned what place he meant.

"Will, you tell me?" asked Sam.

"Maybe. I know that slightly older good looking guy who can give you the massages you need."

Sam threw the small pillow she had nearest at him. She understood that he meant himself. He let the pillow hit him and just smiled at her.

"Test pilot and now masseur? So what else I don't know about you, Jack O'Neill?" asked Sam.

"A lot, probably. Most of it is the secret part of my black ops missions. Some of it I can tell you but not here or anywhere someone could be listening. Other secrets are just part of my job. This unit for example. We tested a lot of planes for the Air Force and some of them were not ours. Some of them we knew how we got them and some we did not. Our job was to test them them and asses their capabilities so others could find the right way to better these planes in combat."

Sam studied him as he told that. She knew that in the past they tested some technologies that were from Soviet Union or other countries but never actually met someone that would talk about it aside from the old veterans from WWII and Korea.

"Now, come on. Change back into your uniform or these tight jeans and shirt I know you brought. There is dinner waiting for us and than the guys want to talk to you."

"Why?" asked Sam. She thought that these guys only wanted to share their old stories between themselves.

"Because you are blonde and you work with me. Just don't slip any of our secrets and remember that I told them I was your CO before and now you have your own research department so we are not in the same chain of command any more."

**.**

The dinner was great. Sam did not ate that good in ages. Even the meals that Jack made during some of the team night did dot came close to the salmon she had now.

They shared old stories of Jack's interest in only blondes. Sam looked at Jack and all he could muster was sheepish look. She knew it was true. Jack was never good at hiding something that was obvious and with his old teammates conspiring against him he could not deny his interest in blondes. Sam just accepted that. She had similar weakness for older dominant men.

Later they asked her all about how she got to the Air Force and how much of actual flying she did. She now worked in the lab after all. As none of them was interested in her area of expertise so she didn't talked about that much. She understood that as her theoretical work was miles away from the physics needed for aircraft testing.

On the other hand her experience from Gulf War was something that they were very interested in. Air Force did not officially allowed female pilots to combat situation at that time. True was she did not flew any real combat mission. Most of her hundred hours was spent over southern Iraq and Kuwait after all the SAM and most of the AAA sites were destroyed. Her primary role was serve as test target for J-STAR and confirming that what the operators on board of the prematurely deployed aircrafts tracked was what they thought.

**.**

Sam dreamed about flying with Jack O'Neill in the new hybrid fighters that SGC worked on. Not the modified death gliders but the actual first generation of Earth starfihgters, the X-302. She knew they were still years from actual test flights but with the new alloys developed for its skin and engines they were no longer just computer models. She would be able to fly them faster and higher than any existing or proposed jet Air Force or Navy could get. As she woke up she realized that this dream was brought up by the stories she heard yesterday. Twenty years ago these pilots really tested new jets. Now it was up to computers to test it, pilots only made the maneuvers necessary for the tests.

She was glad that she dreamed about flying and not about other activities she would like to with him. That could be embarrassing as they slept in the same room.

**.**

After breakfast the wives went to the spa again while the guys plus Sam went to one of the private rooms that was converted to screening room to watch some old films from the days when 'Rattlesnakes' were active. Some of them were made by various members of the team by hand held cameras while others were more professional and looked like promos for recruiting new members for the unit.

After the first few films that showed some of the fun moments from their otherwise full of hard work and dangerous duty.

"Jack, you remember when you lost both engines on that MiG?"

"Yeah, took me long enough to get one of them working again."

"You were what? Four kilometers high?"

Jack thought about it. "I must had been in at least five, probably close to six."

"You should be glad that these aircrafts were build for field use and for real extreme conditions in Russia."

"I'm. And yo know it was that incident and my knowledge of Russian and German that got me to the Spec Ops."

Sam listened up to this point. The old stories were fun but that was something she wanted to know. "Now that is something I would like to hear."

Jack told them about his first black ops mission. He was still a pilot back then. Attached to an army unit tasked with getting new version of Soviet fighter jet for testing. They needed pilot with actual experience with Soviet aircrafts who could speak Russian and German and get the plane in the air and to international airspace.

**.**

"What other films you have here?" asked Jack when he finished his story.

"Some documents that Pentagon unsealed last year. You know the one about our testing of high speed test jets.

"OK, it looks like fun." Jack remembered how the cameraman and other technicians struggled to made this one. Unlike the test pilots that worked on the X-program in close coordination with NACA and later NASA the previous decades, _Rattlesnakes_ was secret group or partly secret as some of their work involved testing prototypes for the next generation fighters. From that came the part that they did not enjoyed the spotlight as much as the older groups.

**.**

**1020 local, Sunday 28th March 1999, Las Vegas International Airport, Las Vegas**

In the end Sam was glad that she went with Jack. She now knew much more about him and felt even deeper admiration for her CO. Not only was he much more intelligent than he let others know. She already knew part of it from his astronomical work and the fact that he assessed some of the technology before he went to

It was now clear to her that when Jack appeared to be bored during briefings and drew pictures instead of making notes it was not because he was not interested in it. He just behaved like that for years.

"Jack, I would like to see how you fly. You know first hand experience is better than these stories."

Jack smiled at her. He expected her request since his old teammates told Sam about his past as one of the best test pilots Air Force had at the time. "I'm scheduled to mine next set of flights on Vipers in three weeks. Maybe I can get us two seater and show you some fancy maneuvers."

"Thanks." Sam put her heat at his shoulder as they waited for their flight back to Colorado. They still had nearly half an hour before they could board it because Delta had some difficulties with the Boeing 737 that intended for this flight.

**.**

**0920 local, Thursday 15th April 1999, Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs, Colorado**

As they walked to the training version of Fighting Falcon Jack smiled broadly. He always loved the time when he was high in the air. Back before he joined special operations it was his job. Now he did it only because he wanted to and the USAF allowed him to fly once in a while.

"You ready, Sam?" asked Jack before they climbed to the cockpit.

"I hope so. We had bumpier rides, right?" Sam was not sure how her stomach would hold up with Jack behind the stick. She did not sat in the pilot seat for a while, seven years to be precise.

"The first one, definitely. Nowadays, no."

Sam looked at him with plead to take in easy on her.

Jack took them up and after some basic maneuvers to just feel the aircraft and the minor changes that the Block 50 had on the Block 30 he flew last time he put them for the first of the maneuvers that normal pilots avoided.

Sam did not understood at first but when Jack turned the nose down and she lost weight it was clear to her why Jack knew what to do when the Shuttle picked them up in their Death gliders last year.

"Nice try."

"You should try this yourself. I planned that as training flight after all."

Sam was not sure if she should take control. She flew in the older versions and at that time she flew at least once a week. "I haven't been behind stick for seven years."

"So start with basic maneuvers."

Sam reluctantly took control of the plane and began to maneuver the jet according to Jack's instructions. When she got back her confidence Sam tried rolls and barrels.

**.**

* * *

**Next chapter – Engagement and Wedding**


	8. Chapter 8: Engagement and Wedding Pt1

**Note: **Sorry for some time confusion from past few chapters and this one. I just wanted to put all the parts to be stories by itself. This chapter is again longer that the previous ones so I hope you will not mind it took me so long to finish it.

**.**

**Chapter 8 – Engagement and Wedding – Part 1**

**.**

**0900 local, Friday 1st January 1999, Harm's apartment**

They were still in bed. Neither of them wanted to get out of it as it was much more comfortable to just lay in each other arms than to make breakfast. After they watched the fireworks over The Mall they returned to Harm's apartment and made themselves hot cocoa before they headed to shower and started to made love to each other. It was almost 3 am when they finally said good night to each other closed their eyes. And with that much of activity they needed long sleep more than ever. "Harm, I need to call Chloe!" said Mac suddenly and sat in the bed.

"Shouldn't you did it few days ago?" asked Harm as he hugged Mac from behind and refused to let her go from his bed.

Mac turned and looked at her fiance. "I should had but I in the excitement I forgot. She will be excited."

Harm just grinned and then kissed his future wife. "Yes, she will be. Just don't let her get here right now."

"Don't worry, Harm. I want the wedding in nice warm weather like you do."

Mac went to the phone and dialed Chloe's grandparents. "It's Major Sarah MacKenzie. Ms. Anderson, can I talk to Chloe?" Mac heard that Chloe's grandmother called her to the phone. She called her just before Christmas Eve to wish her merry Christmas and made sure that her presents arrived in time.

"Hi, Sarah. I just thought about you."

Mac smiled at the comment Chloe made. She knew that her little sister thought about her every New Year and wished for her to be happy. And since the girl first met Harm her wish was that they would be happy together. "You always thought about me, Chloe. But this time I think that your wishes came true. Harm and I are getting married."

"I knew it! I knew it!" squealed Chloe. Mac just pictured how the girl jumped up and down on the idea of the wedding. "I'm so happy for you. When is the wedding?"

Mac knew that Chloe would like to be part of the planning process but she was far away and Mac herself did not yet knew what wedding she would like. "We did not decided yet. When we do you will be one of the first to know."

"'Kay, I will wait. Now tell me how Harm proposed you." Chloe was romantic type and her only desire was that her _big sister_ and role model would be happy. So far Mac seemed happy enough but the girl knew that the true happiness could only came from being with Harm.

**.**

**0930 local, Monday 4th January 1999, JAG HQ**

When the briefing was over most of the officers returned to their desks and offices. The news did not concerned them right now and they had to prepare for hearings and work on their yet unfinished cases. Mac already told Admiral Chegwidden about the engagement before the briefing. He was happy for the couple but on the other hand he knew that it would bring more complications to his already complicated office. He would have to make sure not to assign them to the same sides after the wedding. As much as she did not liked that they seemed to work better against each other than together. With Bud finally

Harriet walked back to her desk when she saw light reflecting on something on Mac's hand. She hurried to her and slipped to Mac's office just after her. "Oh, Major. Whats on your right hand. Is that engagement ring?"

Mac stopped and looked at the young Lieutenant. This was not how she wanted others to find out. Unfortunately Harriet was always able to find this things out before others even noticed something was different. "Shh, Harriet. Yes, it is and I will announce it later today so stay quiet about it for now."

Harriet lowered her voice but she did not let that stop her from making important comment. "I will. But Major, make the announcement before more people see your hand."

"You are right, Harriet. I will."

Mac made sure that she hid her right hand as much as she could before she and Harm finished two more important tasks and finally made it to the middle of the bullpen to make the announcement. Practically everyone in the JAG knew that they were involved for some time and that it was not against the rules as Harm was stationed here on temporally duty.

"We have something to tell you all. Harm and I are getting married. Before you start asking when and where I have to tell you we did not decided yet."

Most of the staff congratulated the couple. They were happy for the two lawyers as they were happy for Bud and Harriet the previous year. Only one person was not much happy. Commander Brumby wanted Mac and even after she told him no several time and he saw her and Harm together he still had hope for them being together.

**.**

**0810 local, Tuesday 5th January 1999, SGC**

Jack found the message when he checked his private email at home last night. Most of the emails he got to that one were ads from websites and some news from his friends in NASA and other agencies. Only small portion of his messages was important enough to read them or as in this case to print them.

He went to Sam's lab and brought printed message with him. As it was so early after Holidays SG-1 hadn't had much to do. Their next mission was not planned for two days and even that was easy meet and greet with some locals and day or so wandering in some old ruins.

"Carter, look what I found in my email yesterday." Jack put the paper on her desk and waited for her to read it.

Sam smiled as she read the message. "I'm glad that they got together."

"So will we go to the wedding?" asked Jack. He liked military weddings even if he had to wear his dress uniform.

"It does not say when is the date."

"I know but I expect that they will let us know when they choose it. We should have enough time to clear our schedule for two or three days."

Sam knew that if they went there they would be expected to behave and with Harm being one of the star lawyers that JAG of any branch had she was sure that there would be someone from the Capitol. In work like JAG HQs did it was necessary to have connections and Harm was involved in some hot cases in the past.

**.**

**Tuesday, 2nd February 1999, US Naval Academy, Annapolis**

Both Harm and Mac finally had time to go to Naval Academy to discuss their wedding with the coordinator. Harm wanted the wedding in the Academy Chapel as there was not a better place to held military wedding in DC area. They considered some of the local churches but then they would also had to find place to held the guests for the reception after the ceremony.

When they got to the chapel and told the young Ensign that wore the chaplain's sign on his uniform what they wanted. He called and the middle aged Lieutenant Commander soon appeared. She was the coordinator for all the weddings in the Chapel and apologized for not being able to get them any of the chaplains that normally also talked to the young couples.

"Non of you works or live here so I gather that one of you graduated the Academy?" asked the coordinator after they talked a little about what the Academy could provide for the wedding.

Harm smiled and Mac nearly hit him for it. "That would be me, I graduated in 1985."

"Commander, we have most of the time booked for the chapel until September. It seems that this year almost everyone wants wedding or baptism ceremonies here so it will not be easy to find date for you. "

"I thought so. Most of my friends that had wedding here told me that I should expect it."

"When would you like the wedding to take place?" asked the coordinator anyway. She wanted to help them as much as possible and there were always some free slots still available.

"Sometime in summer. Mac has things for dress whites and golden wings."

"We still have few days free in early July and than the last weekend in August than the whole September is reserved already for graduation and other ceremonies."

Mac thought about it and decided that she would like to be married before her birthday. "Early July would be better."

The Coordinator looked into her diary and smile appeared on her face "You are lucky. We still have the whole Independence weekend free so you can choose the day and time."

"Wouldn't it be great to be married on the Independence Day, Harm?" asked Mac. That way they would have fireworks on their anniversaries and they would not have to pay for them.

"Yeah, and that way we would have the whole summer to get to honeymoon." Agreed with her Harm.

"Now that you chose the date there are still few more things you need to know."

They knew there were some rules for the couples that wanted the wedding in the Academy Chapel so they listened carefully.

"You need to attend the pre-marital counseling. You can either go here or do it at your church and have the certificate of completing it."

**.**

**0800 local, Tuesday 23rd ****February 1999, SGC**

When Jack found the date for Harm and Mac's wedding in another email he went straight to Sam's lab and told her.

"You know that it is just after the switch to metric system, right?"

"Yes. But with you in charge of the change I'm not worried a bit." This was something that Jack made sure to be

When Jack made sure that Sam understood that they will go to the wedding he went to Hammond.

"Sir, I got invitation to Commander Rabb and Major MacKenzie wedding. Will you give us time off to go there?"

"It depends on when it is and who do you mean by we."

Jack smiled and than gave Hammond one of his dumb faces. "The when is the Independence day and by we I mean myself, Carter, Daniel and doctor Fraiser."

"I think that if nothing major happen just before that day I can spare you. And are you playing little matchmaking?"

"You know, Daniel deserve someone and Fraiser is into him."

**.**

**Friday ****2****6****th**** February 1999, Admiral's Chegwidden's house, McLean, Virginia**

Admiral decided to held the engagement party at his house as neither Harm or Mac had better place for it. He knew that it was little late as they announced it nearly two months ago but there was still time as the wedding would not be for another four.

It was not a big party and they only invited their friends from JAG and few more friends of Harm and Mac that were close enough to DC to make it.

Harm feared that Brumby would not behave but since the announcement it seemed like the arrogant Australian lawyer understood that he had no chance with Mac and tried to be friendly to both Mac and Harm.

"So are you excited, Mac?" asked Harriet. She was not enjoying herself as much as she wanted. Her pregnancy finally made her wear bigger shoes but she wanted to look good and put on the pair she usually wore to work only month ago.

"I am. I barely have time for thinking about it but I have so much to do before I became Mrs. Sarah Rabb."

"So you decided on taking Harm's name then. What about work?"

"I will remain MacKenzie for that as it would be too confusing when working on the same case."

Harriet smiled and was glad that she was not a lawyer herself like her husband. "Yeah, I think it is best to stay with your maiden name for the work and have

"You know that with me being Sarah Rabb I will be the junior with that name."

"Harm's grandmother, right?"

Mac nodded and took another sip of her orange juice. She knew that

"So in what, four months? you will no longer be a bachelor. How do you feel about that?" asked Jack Keeter. He was one of Harm's oldest friends and somehow he was able to take some time off from his top secret spy pilot duty.

"You know as much as I like being single I really want to be married to Mac."

"Both of you are fortunate that you have the opportunity to serve together. It is like run business together."

"Jack, the fact that we serve together is just bonus. I think we would find other duty stations in this area. Marines always looks for good lawyers for their HQ and there is Norfolk base so we would not had to maintain long range marriage."

"So what do you think, Bud?" asked AJ as they carefully watched the happy couple.

"I think they will be happy and they both deserve it."

"Yeah, they do. Don't you agree, Mic?"

"Mac is too good for him!" replied Brumby angrily.

"Mic, you are excellent lawyer but sometimes you should try to hold your tongue. For your own good."

Brumby wanted to say something but at that moment he better not said it as it could ruin his career. Admiral Chegwidden was his superior officer after all and he could send him back to Australia with bad review and recommendation to put him on some not so nice position.

**.**

**Wednesday, 21st April 1999, Janet Fraiser's house **

Cassandra was on school trip so it was only two of them. Janet said that she needed girls night and had everything that was needed for that.

After they finished their first bottle of wine and talked about clothes and * they got to more serious topics. "So you and Daniel?" asked Sam. She noticed that on the last team night Janet tried to get more attention from the still naive archeologist and linguist. She was not as much successful as she wanted but at least she now knew that their kiss on Valentine's day was not their last one.

"We are still just friends!" sighed Janet. She was lonely and the fact that she raised Cassie only added to it.

"You need to get him out and dress for him, Jan."

"I don't know. I gave him Valentine's day gift and kissed him and it seemed that we could go out on a date but it is hard to break his shell. He do not know if he should move on or wait for the small chance that he could get his wife back."

"Ah, enough talk, we need some chic flick and just enjoy the wine."

"Lets see what is on."

When the movie ended Sam had to go to the bathroom and Janet took the remote and changed the channels until she found something she liked.

"What are we watching?" asked Sam as she returned. She barely noticed what got Janet so interested.

"Don't know but it's good." Janet stared on the

Sam finally looked at the TV and saw the half naked bodies engaged in something that could only be described as threesome makeout. "It's porn!"

"Noway. Don't have porn on my TV."

"Jan, you watch this a lot?"

Janet sat behind Sam on the ground and hugged her from behind. She moved her hand around the blonde's body and massaged her sensitive parts while still watching the threesome on TV.

"Jaaan, please! Shtop!"

"No, Sammy. I want to kish you."

Sam could not resist any longer. The combination of alcohol and Janet's massage made her horny. She kissed the petite doctor and let her took control.

**.**

Sam knew it was not in her own bed when the alarm clock woke her. It was not her alarm clock either. She opened her eye and saw the tossed sheets.

Sam was only in her tank top and panties. The bed was a mess and Janet Fraiser laid on her side in fetal position. She had even less clothes on than Sam. From her position she saw that the petite doctor only had her lace panties on.

"What happened?" asked Sam when she completely woke up and Janet just opened her eyes.

"We got drunk." Janet stated the obvious.

"Yeah, we got!" agreed with her Sam. Her own head still ached as she was not accustomed to so much wine. "You have some Tylenol?"

"In the bathroom. Bring me one too, please!"

"What we watched anyway?" asked Sam when the pill took care of the headache.

"Don't know but it was from the mixed channel I got for Cassie."

"For Cassie?" Sam was no prude but it was one thing to get channels like that for adults but for a kid like Cassie?. "Jan, she is only thirteen."

"First it is science during the day and softcore during the night and second Cassie's culture was very different. On her planet at thirteen she would be considered to be mature. She was horrified that here she would not adult for eight more years."

"By adult you mean?" asked Sam. She did not understood but feared for the answer.

"Everything!" sighed Janet. "She told me that on Hanka girls lost virginity by their mothers the night they turned thirteen. That way no man could claim them and they were free to choose their lovers."

"So you are stuck between betraying her heritage and breaking the law?"

"Basically? Yes!"

"I can't help you with that but good luck solving this."

"Thanks, Sam. I will have to talk to Cassie again but there must be some solution to this problem."

**.**

**2000 local, Friday 14th May 1999, Harm's apartment**

Mac looked at the designs for her wedding dress and the ones for her bridesmaids. All of them looked so beautiful but she could not choose which one to pick. She was now down to three designs of which two she could choose from two colors.

Mac sent the pictures to Chloe and she also shown them to Harriet. Neither of them helped her with her problem. Chloe loved the simple white dress with spaghetti straps for bride and the light blue dresses for the bridesmaids while Harried sided with different, more elaborate design in very light blue for the bride and light pink for the bridesmaids.

As she looked the designs over and over she started to side with Chloe. She could imagine herself in that one. There was one more opinion she could use. She decided to send the pictures to Trish.

It did not took more than half an hour after Mac sent the email before Trish called.

"Sarah, so what's the problem?" asked Trish.

"Trish, I know you already helped me so much but It is so hard to decide which dress to choose."

"I understand you. All the designs are beautiful."

"That is precisely my problem. How am I to choose from these. I want something that will let me be me and still show my femininity."

"So you now lean to the first one, aren't you, Sarah?"

"I do but the other one is more

"Just close your eyes and imagine yourself years from now looking at your wedding pictures."

Trish waited few moments for Mac to get into her imagination. "Now tell me which dress you have on these photos?"

"Simple white one with spaghetti straps."

Mac smiled and knew that made the right decision.

**.**

**2100 local, Tuesday 18th May 1999, Mac's apartment**

Mac sat at her bed and had papers all around her. It was mostly related to her case but she also had few things for the wedding spread before her. This morning Harm left for Arizona and she already felt lonely. She could not move with her case so she decided to call Harm. She knew that there was time difference but by now Harm's day should be done. Mac thought that for the first few days they would give them tons of manuals and let them study it during their time from classes.

"Hi, Flyboy. You miss me already?"

"You know I do."

"Good. I expect you to call me every evening."

"I can't promise that as we will have some night lessons and flight."

"That is sooo bad. I may call and ask Brumby for help instead." Joked Mac.

"Do not even mention him or I will steal one of the planes here and I will hunt him down with the machine gun."

"In that case may I paint big shooting target on him?" asked Mac jokingly.

"Mac, I convinced the commander to give me the weekend and the Monday off for our wedding."

"I'm glad that you were able to convince him. That way we don't need to postpone the wedding."

**.**

**1410 local, Thursday 27th May 1999, JAG HQ**

Her cell phone ringed. Mac took it out of her pocket and looked at the number. It was the coordinator from Annapolis. She forgot to call or email her decisions so the seemingly all knowing wedding coordinator had to call her instead.

"Major MacKenzie."

"I'm glad I was able to get to you."

"I'm sorry that I did not called you but

"Major MacKenzie, did you decided on the decorations and menu for the reception?" asked the coordinator.

"Yes, we decided on the white and light blue theme. Not too much of it. Just to make it look nice.

"I have the idea. And the menu?"

"Some mix of vegetable salads both with meat and without and probably some fruit ones too. And non-alcoholic drinks for those who do not drink aside from the white wine that I already chose."

"I got that. And we also need to plan the rehearsal."

"That will be problem. Harm is away and will only arrive for the wedding"

"You know that father Michaels want you to do it. When will you fiance arrive?"

"The day before the wedding but I'm not sure about the actual time."

"We can do it even in the evening and do it quickly."

"That will be great. I will talk to Harm and let you know."

**.**

**1400 local, Saturday 12th June 1999, 2941 Restaurant, Falls Church, Virginia**

It was Harrier's idea that Mac needed bridal shower. Or more precisely Harriet's and her mother's. After all the engagement party was only a small one and it happened nearly four months ago. Mac did not wanted one as she knew what these included. Silly games and usually a lot of "fun" designed for everyone but the bride to be.

Harriet knew that with Harm in Arizona this was something that could distract Mac from her work. She made sure that not only she invited Mac's friends from JAG but she was able to find Mac's friends from OCS and Okinawa. And on top of that there were two women closer to Harm than Mac. Lieutenant Commander Caitlin Pike and Lieutenant Elizabeth 'Hawks' Skates.

Mac made sure that she wrote down what she did not wanted as gifts. It was long list thanks to the fact that neither she nor Harm did not wanted any new things to their apartments. They planned to look for new place to live as it was not logic and economic to have two apartments after the wedding.

As most of the guests engaged in the fun Mac cursed the fact that she was alcoholic. She needed something strong but she knew that she would not be able to stop with one drink if she took it. As the atmosphere became too joyful for her bear Mac retreated from the seating area to the garden and leaned against one of the old oak trees.

Kate Pike felt that Mac was not as happy with the shower as she should be. She took two glasses of grape juice from the bar and went to the bride to be. She offered one to Mac who accepted it. "Mac, tell me what bothers you?"

"Among other things, the fact that Harm is in Arizona."

Kate looked at her and tried to get into her shoes. "That is always hard. At least you two are fortunate that you can work together. Most of us get months at sea or are stationed abroad."

"Yeah, we are fortunate but it is still hard to be away from each other."

"You know, I'm glad that it is you and not me. I could not be with him for the long

"Harm told me about his previous girlfriends.

"He is honest with you. It is always good sign. And you have great friends and from what I heard you are already part of his family."

"I think that Trish adopted me even before we moved from the friends to being best friends."

"Than you have nothing to worry. Now come on and enjoy the party. It is for you after all."

Mac knew that she should but on the other hand it was nothing for her. She thought about it again and decided to join the rest of the women. They gathered here for her after all. "OK but no more stupid jokes or stories."

"I will try." laughed Kate and they returned with their now empty glasses.

**.**

**1800 local, Friday 25th June 1999, Mac's apartment**

Trish knew that Mac needed all the help with the wedding that she could get. With Harm away she had to cancel some of the meeting with the wedding coordinator in Annapolis. At least they finished the counseling before Harm had to leave for Arizona.

"So how is everything going?" asked Trish. She saw the chaos in Mac's normally tidy apartment

"Fine. I miss Harm terribly but otherwise it seems that the wedding preparations are going smoothly."

"And what about the dresses?" asked Trish. Mac chose the design early enough but they still had to make it.

"Mine looks great and I finished the fittings this Wednesday. The ones for the bridesmaids are nice too and now that Harriet don't have belly the size of balloon she could do her fitting too."

"You know that she would look good even if she was still pregnant."

"Yeah, but that way it is much easier. I can only hope that the ones for Chloe and Carter fits them as we have no way that they could actually try them before they get here for the wedding."

"And what about your mom? How is she?"

"I talked with her last weekend and she will arrive next Friday."

"You want me to be here with you when she get here?"

Mac was not sure as she now considered both her real mother and Trish to be her moms. "I don't know."

**.**

**1020 local, Saturday 3rd July 1999, Dulles International Airport**

Mac waited for the plane to touch down and get to the gate. Harm called her from Arizona before he got on board. She was so excited that he would be with her again. It was long weeks since she was able to held him or kiss him. The only things they had was email, phone calls and their own fantasies.

Harm knew that it would be only minutes now until the pilot secure the plane and the ground personnel would connect the gate to the aircraft. After that Harm would be able to get to her. He left most of his things at Luke and only had his briefcase with him so he would not had to wait for his luggage.

Mac stared at the gate entrance from which should Harm arrive. She knew that he could not just run to her as soon as the plane got to the ground as he would if it was military one but she wanted to be with him now!

Harm saw her first. She was cute as she looked for him and yet she did not saw him.

"Maac!" Called Harm and run to her. He hugged her and gave her big kiss. Had he not been in his uniform he would probably spin her around few times.

"Goooood to see you again, Flyboy!" Mac melted in his arms and kissed him back.

**.**

"Where do you think you are going?" asked Mac as Harm went to the drivers side of his car. She showed him the keys that she still had.

"I'm going to drive us home." Answered Harm and tried to grab the keys from her.

Mac flinched her hand with the keys and shook her head. "No, you are not. I'm going to drive us home. You are tired and it is much cooler when I drive anyway."

Mac sat down at the driver's seat and waited for Harm to get to the other side. When Harm was strapped his seat belt Mac took out her sun glasses and strapped herself. She liked to drive the Corvette and with Harm gone she practically adopted that car so she knew that in two weeks they would have to decide who will drive them to work.

As Mac sped from the parking lot Harm looked at her. His soon to be wife was so immersed in driving his Corvette that she would soon ditch her old Jeep and drive this. But on the other hand he could not get her away from his car if for no other reason than for how hot she looked.

**.**

**1050 local, Saturday 3rd July, Harm's apartment**

Mac parked the car to the garage and they went up the stairs. Neither of them wanted to wait for the elevator and they both feared that they would jump each other in it.

Mac did not even waited for Harm to lock the door and jumped him. She unbuttoned his uniform and tossed it carefully aside. Now with harm only in his pants and undershirt Mac dragged him to the shower.

Mac knelt before Harm and helped him from his pants. She was more than satisfied with what she saw.

Mac slid down her dress and Harm's eyes widened. His soon to be wife had nothing under her summer dress. "You dirty Marine!" Harm grabbed her ass and pulled her to him. Mac took the chance and as she moved past the water lever she let opened it up and let the water to pour on them.

Harm did not even took the time to kiss her or play with her full breasts and thrusted into her.

Mac moaned as the pleasure filled her as much as Harm's dick filled her pussy. They moved quickly and before any of them realized it Harm exploded into her. That took Mace over edge too. She had to use only her fingers and vibrator for too long.

Mac felt that Harm was still hard and did not wanted to waste it but now when she got what she needed she wanted more gentle lovemaking. She pushed herself from Harm and turned so now she faced wall of the shower and her ass pointed to her lover. "Take me and play with my boobs!" ordered Mac and Harm obeyed.

They did not engaged this position often as they enjoyed looking into each other eyes while they made love but Mac knew that in any other position Harm would not play with her nipples and she wanted to feel his skilled fingers on her as much as possible.

As Mac felt that she neared her second orgasm she took Harm's right hand and directed it to her clit. She could barely steady herself with one hand so she quickly retracted her hand and put it against the wall again.

Harm knew exactly what Mac wanted and needed so he played with her left nipple and rubbed her clit just fast and strong enough so she was on the edge but it did not sent Sarah MacKenzie over the edge. Harm enjoyed her strong wet pussy too much.

"I want it!" Mac ordered him again.

It was hard for him to do as she ordered but Harm knew that they would have the whole wedding night to play and enjoy each other. He increased his thrusts and his ministrations of Mac's clit to the point when it was only few strokes away from their simultaneous orgasm.

Mac took control and used her muscles to finish them. They both came so hard the it was pure luck they they did not fell to the floor.

"You know now much I needed this?" asked Mac as they sat under the shower. They stopped the water but they were both still wet.

"Probably as much as I did." Answered Harm and kissed her.

**.**

"You know we need to get to the Academy to the rehearsal." Said Mac as they ate their late lunch. She ordered them some noodles and for herself extra portion of meat.

"Yeah, I know but we should probably really shower before we go there."

"You are right, Flyboy." Agreed Mac. She dug out last few noodles and roasted pork and enjoyed the smooth taste that the chef in their favorite Chinese restaurant put to it.

"So who goes first?" asked Harm and was deadly serious. He wanted to shower before he would put on his uniform.

"You go. I need to check my email first."

"Fine," said Harm and tossed his shirt in laundry basket on his way to shower.

**.**

**1900 local, Saturday 3rd July 1999, Annapolis**

Jack was glad that there was no world threatening situation or other crisis that would prevent them from this trip. He felt bad for Teal'c but with so much people present at the wedding it would be nearly impossible to get him there unnoticed. He could not wear hat as it was military wedding and they could not hide the golden symbol under any sort of makeup. At least he and Sam were able co convince Janet to come along so Daniel would have someone to keep him company.

So far their miniscule calculations and manipulations worked. Daniel was much closer to their doc and that way they both seemed much happier.

They got two rooms in a small hotel not far from Annapolis. It was easier to get two two-bed rooms than four rooms, one for each of them.

"So, are you ready to be together with so much sailors?" asked Sam as they sat in their room and watched news on local channel.

"I had been with more during my missions. Landing dock is usually full of sailors and Marines so this is easy." What Jack did not told Sam was that he was unconscious for most of his stay on that ship and that it was Marine Recon team that saved his ass that day.

"Heard that there will be some top ranks and probably some of Harm's friends from Capitol."

Jack smiled and sipped his beer. "Now that will be interesting.

"And what about your dress?" asked Jack and Sam knew he was really interested in her dress. He saw the pictures of the design and than photos of the actual dress but so far he could only use his imagination how it would look on Sam.

"I hope it will fit me but it should be fine considering that I don't change weight and have the same dress size for years."

"So you have." Agreed with her Jack and finished his beer.

**.**

**3rd July 1999, Admiral's house, McLean, Virginia**

They hadn't had time for proper last bachelor night. Harm was glad to find out that his friends did not planned some wild party in strip club like they did for Bud last year. Had they ended up in jail again he knew that he would not survived long enough to get married. Mac would probably kicked and punched him so hard that he would be dead on the spot.

With last year events in mind AJ Chegwidden prepared the party in his house and garden. He invited few people from JAG HQ and contacted some of the Harm's friends from the Academy. Mac helped him with that as they wanted their old friends to be at the wedding.

When Harm arrived to Admiral's house he was surprised that there were so much people. Not only there were most of his friends from work but also the whole Roberts clan, Jack Keeter, Captain Boone and Clayton Webb. Who was missing and it did not bothered him in any way was Mic Brumby. They did invited him to the wedding as they did all of their co-workers but AJ put him on duty for the whole weekend. As an Australian he did not celebrated the Independence day and that way he could not cause any trouble.

**.**

* * *

**To Be Continued in Part 2 (Wedding Day)**

**Sorry for that but it was already too long so I decided to split this chapter into three parts. The last one will be the Wedding night ;)**


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